Posted on 07/22/2018 1:48:59 PM PDT by huckfillary
I love socialists. Why? Because they ask the fundamental questions.
I hate socialists, too. Why? Because they give the wrong answers.
Socialist congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently asked, “Are we going to be a slave state or are we going to be a free state?”
She meant to imply that socialism is freedom — and capitalism is slavery.
Most people operate in the center. They eschew ideological arguments in favor of splitting the difference.
That’s why we have partial captialism and partial socialism in America. The controls, the regulations, the subsidies, the high taxes, Medicare, Social Security, federal education? Those are socialism. The smart phones, the computers, the choices in entertainment, clothing, cars, groceries, restaurants, music and sports on a scale no other society has ever seen? Those are capitalism.
If you love Medicare, Obamacare, public schools and high taxes — and you want ALL of society to be like these things, as they already are in North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela — then socialism is your choice.
If you prefer the comforts only capitalism and economic liberty can provide, then you ought to consider consistent capitalism instead of the hybrid version we now experience.
Ocasio-Cortez is asking the right question. She’s giving the wrong answer, though.
Capitalism means the freedom to choose. No billionaire under capitalism gets that way by coercing money from others. Every customer pays their money voluntarily. Politicians, on the other hand, get everything through force, pull and usually lots of lying.
If you like force, pull, fraud and lying, then socialism is your choice. Join Ocasio-Cortez in her battle to deliver us all into slavery — and then try to call it freedom.
My favorite is democracy. Nearly every talking head, politician, or social justice warrior, refers to our country as "our democracy." The United States is NOT a democracy, never has been. The United States is a constitutional republic of enumerated powers.
Everytime someone on TV refers to the U.S. as a democracy I make it a point to contact them and call them on the carpet for it.
Taxation is slavery.
There is no answer to the question “is capitalism slavery?” The mind attempts to give meaning to this juxtaposition of words, but fails.
There is always ‘Capitalism’, in that there is always Capital.
The question is, “Who controls the Capital”? In the Soviet Union, it was the State.
socialism is force. It is incompatible with freedom
Slavery is the forced appropriation of the fruits of one’s labor. Taxation, likewise....
The first chapter of “Sociology for the South”(1854), written by pro-slavery apologist George Fitzhugh, ends with the claim that “socialism is slavery.”
Socialism is close to 100% slavery. While capitalism is closer to 100% freedom. Not complete because government needs some of our money to protect us. However, today many in government think we should be taken care of from birth to death and the some money is much money and huge deficits and very high debt. So freedom today under capitalism is less than it should be.
Capitalism is a harsh system that works well for all. Capitalism has raised many from the depths of poverty to a good life. At the same time capitalism provides the tax revenues that support a social safety net for the poor and old and those of limited mental facilities.
The problem with our safety net is it has become to magnanimous. It allows those that can take care of themselves the ability to live off the state and not work. This insane welfare system also breaks down the nuclear family and when that happens all hope is lost for those children born into such. It becomes an acceptable way of life.
Capitalism is good.
Venezuela in the late seventies and early 80s was the most prosperous nation in South America. I lived there and it was good! It went socialist Marxist and now is a disaster. Crime is rampant, murder is the usual fare of the day, hunger is widespread and Tyranny at the point of a gun is the norm. They have no toilet paper and their currency is worthless and of such a texture it is not even suitable for toilet paper. You line up for hours to get into a grocery store and then the shelves are mostly bare. It is no longer a functioning nation. It is also a major transit point for drug smuggling that is condoned by the corrupt officials of the government. They take there cut in US dollars and put it in secure international banks. Many then live grandly outside of Venezuela when they leave.
Oddly Venezuela did vote for Chavez in his first election and it was an honest election. The people tired of the corruption of the government and voted for Chavez. Today the corruption exceeds by magnitudes the corruption of the past. When Chavez was reelected the validity of that election is in doubt. Chavez had control of the voting process. He in all probability lost that election. The election of his succesor Maduro was totally fraudulent. Maduro did not win that election. In effect Maduro is a communist dictator of Venezuela.
Today the people suffer.
Taxation is not slavery. Someone has to pay for even limited government, and government is an essential component of civilization. It all depends on where one draws the line between liberty and government, and I personally think the founders did a pretty good job with that (if only we’d return to something closer to our original constitutional republic).
“Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it’s just the opposite.”
Income tax on wages is slavery. Though only partial slavery.
Wealth tax is not slavery, it is theft.
Tariffs, sales tax and income tax on “unearned income” are not so much slavery.
“(if only we’d return to something closer to our original constitutional republic).”
Does that mean the Article V Constitutional Convention group can expect your supporting check soon?
Which system builds walls to keep people in?
Best answer of the thread.
As a Christian I believe that anything you put before Christ will enslave you.
Economic freedom and personal freedom are inseparably intertwined.
You cannot have one without the other.
Socialism by its very definition is an attack on personal freedom, in that under socialism, you lose the freedom to determine the worth of your own labor.
Obviously, personal freedom is tied directly to that.
Agreed. In our Republic, we have certain government functions that we need to pay for. I don’t have a problem with the concept, since I am not an anarchist.
The major problem many of us have as conservatives is what we are being forced to pay for, and how much we are forced to pay.
They way things work today, with a smaller and smaller portion of the population paying living expenses and monetary ‘benefits’ for a larger and larger portion of the population, characterizing taxation as slavery as you did, paladin2, gets closer to the reality than it should be.
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