Recently on another post of mine a commentor named DaPoet left a comment that had so many incorrect statements that I felt it better to provide an inline response in order to give the best response that I could.
I can understand why you and other conservatives would avoid discussing theology since the Bible and the teaching’s of Christ condemn the very basic tenants of conservative economic theory.
Actually, I love discussing Christian theology, just not with non-believers and I based this mainly on Prov 1:7.
First off there is no such thing as a free market since the marketplace is either regulated by a government entity that prevents the corporate and financial classes;
We almost agreed here. There is currently no true capitalist free market economy because the government is too involved in picking winners and losers, weather through selective taxation or subsidies. Then DaPoet’s communist leanings show themselves when he creates the “evil capitalist” strawman”
from stealing from their customers through excessively high prices and enslaving the working classes by paying wages that won’t allow them to support themselves and their families.
If prices for goods are too high, don’t buy them. If your not being paid what you feel you are worth, get a different job. That is the basis of freedom and liberty. It is only under a communist or socialist system that workers are forced to work for set wages or forced to get goods at a set priced. In a free market system the individual has the power to work for a wage they agree to work for or buy goods a price they feel is reasonable. Of course some will try and get you to work for as little as possible, but then you have the responsibility to make the decision to seek work somewhere else.
Of course if someone if willing to do your job for less than you are is that the fault of the employer? or are you too selfish?
Of course a business is going to try and sell their goods for as much as possible, so they can afford selfish employee salaries, but if someone is willing to pay the high prices is it the fault of the seller? Maybe you want more than you can afford and you should lower your wants.
Or it is controlled by Robber Barons who seek to create conditions within the marketplace to prevent fair competition such as the robber barons of Teddy Roosevelt’s day whom he was forced to break up.
Damn those robber barons that built the American infrastructure and created millions of jobs. We would be so much better off if some other country lead the industrial revolution.
But seriously, there where some monopolies that needed to be broken up and we now have laws to prevent that from happening again, when they are enforced. This has nothing to do with the failure of capitalism, it is a failure of the human race that happens in every social system.
On the other hand there are no surviving “Pure Democracies either” since the only Democracy established in Athens Greece was destroyed by a superior military power. The United States, Britain, France, Japan etc. etc. all have a form of democracy but are not themselves “Pure Democracies”.
Thank God for that. A pure democracy would never survive, that is why our founders developed a representative republic.
A better set of questions is: What Prevented Americans From Embracing Socialism and Communism during the Great Depression bought about by the immoral and corrupt excesses of capitalism and the actions of the financial sector, corporate, banking and conservative political classes – namely the republicans?
You really should study the great depression, your information is way off. In fact, start with the depression of 1920 and see how we got out of it in 1 year. You may also want to study how we have has more recessions and depressions since the founding of the Federal Reserve System and how the more government intervention we have the more recessions we have had.
It could also be argued that Americans did embrace socialism under FDR. Read “New Deal or Raw Deal” by Burton Folsom for a detailed look at the programs of FDR and how they started us down the road to the Democratic Socialism we have today.
What caused the financial sector and the banking, corporate and political class {republicans} to compromise with Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Progressive Democratic Party?
Crony capitalism. FDR picked which organisations to support with subsides and tax breaks and which ones to sink in regulations and penalties.
By enacting the very reforms he championed and which they opposed {Namely the safety regulations that sought to put an end to the callous disregard of human life by the industrialists, the minimum wage laws, social security and unemployment insurance as well as the laws that muzzled the banking, financial and corporate sector that put an end to the boom and bust cycle.}
How has that worked out for us? Has the boom/bust cycle been ended? Has the progressive uptopia been brought about? The facts ay we have had more booms and busts since the progressive agenda started in 1912 than we did in the 200 years prior.
That is until Nixon’s and Carter’s – both of whom were fiscal conservatives
Ha, ha, ha… that was funny. Nixon ends the gold standard and you think he was fiscally conservative? Don’t even get me started with Carter. Thanks for the laugh.
– polices of allowing the federal reserve free reign to combat inflation that resulted in the stagflation of the 1970′s. That led to the election of Reagan and his policies of tax cuts and outright refusal to enforce the Glass-Stengal act along with his stealing the money being raised by social security to fund the retirement of the baby boomers. On the advice of Allen Greenspan to hide his growing deficits allowed the resumption of the boom and bust cycle of stock market excess.
Actually, it was Clinton that used social security money to hide deficits, it was Clinton that repealed Glass-Steagall and it was under Clinton that Alan Greenspan help create the housing bubble. It was the Reagan tax cuts that helped our federal government take in more revenue than ever before.
It was the rise of Socialism and Communism in Russia and the rebellion of the common people; who allowed the communists to put the Ruling and Merchant classes to death and seize private property and the means of production.
And how did that work out for those Russian people? or any of the other eastern block countries that where invaded and forced into communist rule and then left to die.
In order to prevent the common man in America from embracing socialism and communism and to prevent their own overthrow and deaths at the hands of a mob. The financial sector, the banking, corporate and political classes – republicans – compromised with FDR and allowed his reforms that blunted the excesses of both capitalism and conservative economic theory to become law.
Again, his communism shows through here. You can almost hear the hatred in his words. I would even say he sounds more like Linen than Marx, which is even sadder.
Of course the eventual fall of socialism and communism led to a resurgence and empowering of conservative economic theory; that ultimately led to the meltdown of the economy in 2008 and the election of Obama. Since then the extremism of the Tea Party and the Obstruction of the Republican party led directly to Obama’s reelection in 2012.
Fiscal conservative policies had nothing to do with the economic collapse, if we actually practiced fiscal conservatism in America we never would have has the collapse. It was the progressives in the Republican party under Bush that perpetuated the boom cycle started under Clinton that lead to the bust we have under Obama. It is the continuation of the same failed policies from Bush that is leading to the Obama depression. Remember, we suffered 16 years of depression under FDR, thank God Obama can only be office for 8 years.
The reason that Conservatives are far more dangerous then liberals is that it will be the social and religious conservatives who impose a National Sunday Law on the rest of the nation.
Not sure what he is talking about here. I guess it is a sad attempt at building a religious theocratic strawman to attack. Better luck next time.
Just as another republican senator – Henry William Blair – attempted to do on behalf of the Woman’s Temperance Coalition in 1888. Thus fulfilling the prophecy in the book of Revelation that depicts the lamb like beast that speaks like a dragon – the US of A – who will make an image to the beast and make all – both small and great to worship it.
If your implying that the Untied States will be on the side of the anti-Christ during end times, I would agree with you. I would say the majority of Americans would agree with you that they do not want a Christ centered country any longer. But this also goes back to one of the reasons I don’t discuss theology with unbelievers, we would not be on the same page when discussing the meaning of what is written.
So I will conclude by saying that I welcome all honest debate on my blog, I only ask that you refrain from profanity and excessive name calling. I would also appreciate it if you had some idea of what you are talking about. And lastly, be honest. If you are a Leninist communist, then admit it. If you are an atheist, admit it. Then we can have an honest discussion. I would also say that you should know the difference between a conservative and a Republican, there are big differences and I suspect that they will be getting bigger after this last election.
Thank you for your time, and God bless.
America done right 