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03-29-2013, 10:21 PM
Welcome to CU lib! Boy they wont even let you wander around for a minute! Fresh meat is rare!
Go start some threads of your own and then fight for your life!
:Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.
” I wondered why the rock was getting larger. Then it hit me.
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Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
And clever in their own sight! Isaiah 5:20-21 NASB
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- Join Date
- Apr 2005
- Location
- Bavaria
- Posts
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03-30-2013, 11:06 AM
I hope E. P. Meth hasn't run off, he has quite a stack of questions to answer.
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
And clever in their own sight! Isaiah 5:20-21 NASB
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03-30-2013, 11:23 AM
I think this is all accurate. I believe one of the more important jobs of government is to minimize the amount of rent-seeking behavior taking place in the economy. To me, despite this inefficiencies I think it is worthwhile to have these programs in place, but there is a lot of room to consider how we might have the same positive impact using less money.
I can see why this issue upsets people, and it would probably be even more upsetting to me if I'd ever met someone who was purposely choosing to work less or not at all due to these programs, while I'm working into the evenings at my firm.
I have never heard of these 'institutionalized Leftist race-related policies in DOJ's Civil Rights branch bureaucracy', but everything else here sounds about right to me.
I'll touch on this at the end of this post - somewhat related to another question.
It's mostly a learning experience for me, getting better at articulating my views and seeing which parts of my arguments are weakest.
Whew, good question.. I doubt I will be perfectly consistent on this topic on an issue-by-issue basis. The policy wonk in me sees the appeal in all sorts of government initiatives to influence behavior, and my libertarian streak pushes back. Two examples:
I can totally see where the soda cup ban came from - while there are certainly massive gains we can get by reforming the healthcare system, if Americans simply took better care of their health in general this would save a lot of money as well. But even if this policy wasn't hopelessly poorly implemented, you'll have no trouble convincing me that this crosses the line of gov't interference in our lives.
On the other hand:
The DOMA case at the Supreme Court has recently reminded us just how many rights and benefits are afforded to married couples (something like 1100, I believe). I don't doubt the value of incentivizing marriage and families and support the policy, but what gives the government the right to do this? How different is this really from the soda cup ban?
These are the sorts of questions I ask myself about these kinds of topics in general - am happy to discuss specific issues as well.
I wouldn't go that far. Firstly, I'm only a proponent of smart spending - you show me valueless spending and I'll argue it should be cut.
The time to pay down the debt is when our economy is rolling. This is why I wish Clinton had cut spending and Bush had not cut taxes. I'm sure I'm stepping on a land mine here, but I wish we had not spent trillions on the two wars in the middle east. Regardless, the position we're in is the position we're in, and I don't think austerity starting today is the correct solution (see Europe).
If the economy begins to recover and I continue to see no efforts to intelligently reform entitlements and health care spending and begin to bring down the deficits, I will be worried. But for now, I don't fear us going the way of post-WW1 Germany, modern Greece, Zimbabwe, etc.
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03-30-2013, 12:12 PM
--Odysseus
Sic Hacer Pace, Para Bellum.
Before you can do things for people, you must be the kind of man who can get things done. But to get things done, you must love the doing, not the people!
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03-30-2013, 01:45 PM
Well, all my friends are liberals and my Alternative History and America Sucks professor said that Conservatives hate America and Republicans have a war on women or Christmas or Barney or someone...I forget who exactly and Sarah Palin thinks we should all hunt baby seals and eat their faces and pour their blood into the streets and shotguns and people that own machine guns and assault revolvers have killed more people than all the plagues, wars and communist governments ever have and you're an idiotic poopy-head if you believe in God and how does this Chee tshirt look on me.
Be Not Afraid.
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03-30-2013, 05:33 PM
So much for keeping it civil. I'm quite serious. The term "liberal" was co-opted by communists in the 1930s and 40s when the evidence of communism rendered that term toxic. They began referring to themselves as "liberals in a hurry" and eventually dropped the last part. Before that, leftists called themselves Progressives, socialists and even fascists. The first fascist party was founded by Mussolini, who was a socialist who never abandoned the collectivist economics of that movement, but imposed a nationalist aspect which was later adopted by other fascist parties, most infamously the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (you may have heard of them). However, my point that you don't know the difference between what you call yourself and the various other movements on the left tells me that you have not reflected much about what you believe, much less why.
BTW, we had a professor of America Sucks Studies who used to post here under the name Wei Wu Wei. If he's the same one that you're studying under, please give him my regards.--Odysseus
Sic Hacer Pace, Para Bellum.
Before you can do things for people, you must be the kind of man who can get things done. But to get things done, you must love the doing, not the people!
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03-30-2013, 06:05 PM
I kinda liked JB's post, myself...it summed up pretty well the mental state, worldview, and knowledge of Conservatism of the typical twenty-something self-styled Liberal.
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