I first should state that I don't actually think there is anything Progressive about the so-called "progressives" of today. In fact, I believe they are in general regressive. They virtue signal and shout at the top of their lungs (sometimes literally) while the policies and acts due exactly the opposite of what they are virtue signalling about. I personally care a lot more about actions than words. Saying a thing is meaningless if it isn't what actually occurs.
With that said the idea that people should be able to do what they want as long they are not hurting another is a strong belief of mine. That in theory was the case of the classical liberal. I actually could identify with that.
This does not mean I believe the so-called conservatives are without flaw either. I've actually fought that battle from within that party before. I believe "conservation" is important. I believe simplifying our laws and keeping our government to a minimum is in the best interest of all. Furthermore, I don't see that as being at odds with the "alleged" goals of progressives. Live and let live.
Now the conservative side is often bashed over interfering with pro-choice, how people view themselves, or forcing religion onto people. That actually doesn't happen much anymore. It has before. In fact the "progressives" are the ones that seem to be most forcefully dictating what can be said, how a person should act, and what is politically correct these days. Much like pushing a religion and expecting conformity.
So I don't identify as either. I am a human. I am an individual. I use my brain. I don't need a party or some authority figure to do my thinking for me.
With that VERY LONG intro (one of my tendencies) let's get to the point of this post.
I've been thinking for a few days about the consequences of socialism, and I'll also call that modern day "progressivism" as I do believe they are for the most part one and the same thing at the moment.
The Impact of Modern Progressives (aka Socialists)
I am not absolutely certain how this post is going to flow. I want to just riff with a few things. The main concept is an addiction to virtue signalling. No follow through. It seems they are always looking for the latest tragedy or movement to capitalize on. When that seems to be declining they move onto the "next thing". Yet, what about the follow through? Do they actually worry about the consequences of the results of their previous virtue signalling tirades?
I don't think they do. In fact, I believe they very much just ignore the consequences. This has been rammed home with some things I found pretty shocking in 2017.
I grew up seeing the photos of starving Africans (It was Ethiopia during my youth) on TV and how for a small amount per month you could feed X amount of kids. This seemed like a noble cause. In fact, it IS noble IF you have your own house in order first.
If I saw a neighbor child starving and I started paying to feed them while neglecting to feed my own children then I don't consider that particularly noble. I consider it a foolish opportunity to virtue signal. Now if I can help that child AND feed my own children then that IS a positive thing.
I look about and see homelessness, starving Americans, Americans who cannot afford education, and all manner of people in our country (our nation's children) that we could help. Yet, there are these things called SANCTUARY CITIES where we are sheltering trespassers, employing them, educating them, in many cases ignoring crimes if committed by them, giving them food, giving them shelter. TRESPASSERS. I did not say Immigrants because, if they did not LEGALLY immigrate here they are TRESPASSERS, INVADERS, etc.
So the virtue signalling "progressives", "liberals", "left", etc take care of them. As to education. That's what DACA is about. It is about paying for TRESPASSERS' education. All of this while we have homeless, and we do not have the government paying for the nation's actual children's education. Why? It's a chance to virtue signal about protecting these "dreamers" while ignoring the dreamers who actually are not trespassing.
It's also easy to virtue signal such things when you are deluded into thinking the government can just PAY for whatever suits your interest. The ignorance about how things are paid for and that there is no such thing as FREE from the government. It is just spending other people's money, and/or putting everyone that actually is not a trespasser into debt.
Now, you've heard all of this before. I had some things show up in 2017 that showed just how much this is ignored and pushed aside and how insane it can get when these "so-called progressive" ideas are actually implemented.
California - The Experiment Live Large
California out of all the states is the most Socialist, "Progressive", "Liberal" of all of the states. It is the place that seems to be attempting to implement the most of these type of things. The state has many Sanctuary Cities, allows trespassers to commit crimes, and has a lot of problems they like to shuffle OUT OF SIGHT.
The most interesting one that has had my mind spinning for about a week was the SAN FRANCISCO POOP MAPS, and POOP MAP apps. What is this? There is such a big problem with human defecation at various places around the city that they actually are making maps to help people avoid areas with human feces on the ground and in the environment. This blew my mind. I was unaware of this issue and of how it occurred, and why it keeps getting worse.
- San Francisco Poop Map Shows Where To Avoid Human Waste On The Street, And It's Both Disgusting And Fascinating
- Poop map shows scale of San Francisco's human tragedy
- Map shows S.F.’s human poop on the streets
I could not have made this up. I was pretty amazed by this problem.
You see what happens in this "sanctuary city" where trespassers are welcome they have a large homeless population that has been growing. They will occasionally visit areas the homeless are at and try to run them out so this will shift things around.
One homeless man said that he used to use a two bag method when defecating. Then they banned plastic bags. At that point this problem truly began. Not only are they homeless but it appears they also don't really have access to toilets they are able to use. Yet, let's welcome (sarcasm) trespassers and give them sanctuary while we have this growing population of citizens without homes, without toilets, and without education opportunities. I guess our homeless citizens don't "dream". You are apparently only a "dreamer" if you trespass.
This is not the only issue. Why are there so many homeless? It is getting more and more expensive to live in California. Why? That's pretty easy to explain, but the socialists and progressives don't want to hear it. The government CAN NOT give you free things. So when they push sanctuary, food stamps for trespassers, education for trespassers, etc and all the people cheer and virtue signal. How do they pay for that? Increase taxes. Increase debt. Increase wages to offset the increase in taxes, debt. Increase cost of houses, and rent to offset having to pay increase wages and taxes. This will lead to more and more expensive housing, and less jobs for people not meeting criteria. That criteria might be based upon the virtue signalling "diversity" movement so someone without a home finds it more and more difficult to find a job that can pay the increasing housing costs due to a company focusing on whether they are diverse. So they may be really skilled at the job, but can't get one. In some places they might be a white male heterosexual and that immediately closes many doors. Not everyone pushes through that. It should therefore be no surprise if people stop to use their brains rather than fixating on the dopamine release from how they feel virtue signalling.
California has MANY problems. A large amount of them seem to be consequences of pushing the ideas they would love to push across the United States. Let's push failed ideas everywhere so we can have nationwide POOP MAPS.
Chicago
Another place that is the bastion of many policies like this is Chicago. It has the strictest gun control laws in the nation and is the place with the most gun violence in the nation. Bring this up and they'll say that they can just go across the border to Indiana to get guns. Guess what? That argument is true of ANYWHERE else in the nation(not to mention why isn't Indiana worse with Gun Violence?), but isn't a problem in those places like it is Chicago. The thing to note is that Chicago does have many of the gun control laws they try to push for in the rest of the United States and they DON'T WORK. Banning things doesn't work. It didn't work for prohibition of alcohol. It doesn't work for the war on drugs. It doesn't work on telling people they can't drink alcohol until they are 21. Why would a person think it would suddenly work for guns? Stupidity? It'll work this time right?
- FACT CHECK: Is Chicago Proof That Gun Laws Don't Work?
- Column: The truth — and lies — about Chicago's gun laws
- Chicago says the illegal guns fueling the city's violence mostly come from out of state
Could it be perhaps that the criminals (They don't care about gun laws... they already plan on committing crimes) know in Chicago that the average citizen is less likely to have a gun (concealed or otherwise) so they feel safer in committing their crimes? Is there any possibility in that? You see they like to talk about the guns coming from out of state. They seem to ignore the FACT that the places the guns come from have FAR LESS gun crime. They don't stop to think about what makes Chicago special. It can't be the presence of the guns or else we'd see a correlation elsewhere, which we do not.
They have a new record I read today. I read that Chicago now also has the most carjackings.
- Both high-crime and trendy Chicago neighborhoods see surge in carjackings
- Surge of Chicago carjackings include 2 thefts in broad daylight on North Side
- 'Not Just Murder' - Chicago Carjackings Surge To Highest Point In At Least A Decade
So for all of you people that virtue signal and want to protect dreamers why don't you go to California or Chicago (It is a sanctuary city too)? You can try out all these things you are certain are so great without FORCING and INFLICTING them upon the rest of us.
Afterall isn't a progressive and liberal supposed to be advocating for people to live and let live? If so, why are you so dead set on forcing the rest of us to practice your lunacy?
San Francisco is really funny one. You have some of the biggest tech companies in the world right along with homelessness and poop maps. You can't make this shit up if you tried.
As for banning things, the gov. is fully aware of the fact that banning doesn't work. That's the whole point. First you (the gov. ) create the problem, and then you (the gov.) come up with the solution, which usually involves the expansion of the bureaucratic machine.
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Oh and they found out during prohibition that it made them rich. Many of the political "elite" families made their wealth from prohibition. So when prohibition ended they lost some lucrative business. Solution. Make more stuff illegal and start working in the black markets that are created.
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And some people keep arguing in favor of expanding the power of the state even further! LOL The gov. is the biggest cancer there is, even bigger than actual cancer.
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110% on the mark!
I took the day off work to help unload food at a foodbank in a small town of 500.
I'm 48 years old and I was the youngest person there. The second youngest was 60.
The little old ladies (oldest was 84) just kept complaining and worrying what a destitute young man wandering outside the foodbank was going to break or steal.
They wouldn't ask him to help or give him a cup of coffee (it was 17 degrees F outside)
Their virtue signalling did nothing to help him. But they sure felt accomplished when I was done unloading the trailer of food.
If we keep this up, the people trying to help will be over-run, over-worked, tired, sore and broke because the virtue signallers won't change.
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Were the little old ladies there to get food or were they working at the food bank? In my experience, little old ladies are afraid of just about everything. Lol.
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Curated for #informationwar (by @openparadigm)
Relevance:When Compassion Becomes a Vice
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Isn't it funny how the "Progressives" have been in charge of the inner cities for decades? How's that working out?
They always try to blame everyone else around them for their trouble. Their constant MO is to argue that the reason why they can't make the world better is because they don't have enough power and authority.
Constantly failing their way into ever more responsibility. Does rewarding failure with more responsibility strike anyone anywhere as a good, stable system?
Cream and Crap both rise to the top, unfortunately.....
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I started reading your post and this really made me lol
So the virtue signalling "progressives", "liberals", "left", etc take care of them. As to education. That's what DACA is about. It is about paying for TRESPASSERS' education. All of this while we have homeless, and we do not have the government paying for the nation's actual children's education. Why? It's a chance to virtue signalling about protecting these "dreamers" while ignoring the dreamers who actually are not trespassing.Have you forgotten where you live...? The only reason the USA exists is because of European TRESPASSERS who came here, killed over 10 million Native Americans and stole their land. And you are complaining about TRESPASSERS getting an education in America...
The reason the poor are being ignored in America is because we have a regressive taxation system, if it was progressive the government could afford to pay for everyone to attend public school without any problems.
Oh, and Happy New Year! :)
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This is all fallacious. At the arrival of Europeans, there was not even America, since this is a post-colonization concept. In the new continent there were no nations or state of legality, which if it existed in Europe, to say that Europeans are trespassers is to fully accept its legal framework, which only existed after its arrival.
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No, actually what you are saying is fallacious. Before the Europeans arrived there were over 140 Native American tribes living in North America and they were all organized on different parts of the continent. They had their own laws\rules and borders. It does not matter what the land was called, it belonged to them and it was taken from them... http://www.ushistory.org/us/1.asp
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No, of course not. The Amerindians had no laws only had customs and their rules were de facto and not de jure, besides that they were based on the use of coercive force, we can say then that under that concept of government of the strongest the Europeans were duly imposed, and they did not have borders either. They had only some small territories of the whole great continent.
In addition, many American tribes such as the Totonacs or the Tlaxcalans allied with the Europeans to destroy the great American powers such as the Aztecs. In fact, in the conquest of Mexico, more Native Americans fought against the Aztecs than Europeans, so I do not know where the consideration of trespassers would come from.
This is also not true, most of the American territory was not inhabited, not even explored, before the arrival of the Europeans. Many Europeans inhabited places before any native tribe did.
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We could also blame the slave trade on the Africans themselves, since the white slavers bought their slaves from black Africans who raided the interior and captured their brothers to sell.
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No, we could not blame them for that, but we would also give part of the responsibility.
What I was referring to is that they did not consider him trespassers, and they are also part of the Amerindian peoples, or is it that only the Aztecs are Americans and the Totonacs are not?
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The white races of the world are famous for this tactic. It wouldn't be hard to find a faction in any country who wouldn't take up arms against the sitting government if they thought they could prevail. The Middle East is a perfect example as is the sort of turmoil you're experiencing in Venezuela under international sanctions for non-compliance to the international financier dictates that destroys your currency and hobbles your economy to condition the people for revolution.
You're right though. The natives of this huge continent did not consider the Europeans trespassers. They often welcomed them. But that was to their peril since the invaders thought the natives were little more than heathen animals who couldn't understand the concept of ownership (which they largely could not since it was inconceivable in their culture).
Just because the invasion of the Americas by the Europeans is an already established fact does not make it legitimate. It was theft and dispossession regardless of whether the natives believed they possessed their land or not.
Rome gave the Iberian peninsula to the Goths to keep them from destroying Rome. The Basques who had lived there for centuries had to flee into the hills. That was an injustice.
If the US decided enough was enough and invaded and occupied Venezuela because thought it needed your oil and you weren't giving it to them, would that be okay with you? Venezuela doesn't need that much oil. I bet there would be plenty of Venezuelans who would rally behind the Americans to help them get established. Would that make it right?
That is the very crux of civilization and why I'm not a fan. All civilizations eventually collapse because they are hierarchical and inherently corrupt, built upon the bent backs of the systematically impoverished.
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I do not believe that the "white races" are the guilty of evil in all countries, not even if there are "white races". To say that Venezuela is in crisis due to international sanctions is simply false, because they lasted more than 4 years in crisis before they placed any. Although that is another topic.
Maybe it was an injustice, maybe it was not right, that depends from the point where you see it, but I'm not justifying the colonization, I'm just saying that I think it's wrong to compare the colonizers with the illegal immigrants, they are two very different.
I just do not think the colonizers are trespassers, and they just call them opportunistically, because many Mexicans, not Latinos, only Mexicans, get upset because the people of the United States criticize the illegal immigration of Mexicans, and then they look for an excuse to justify their actions. I do not see Argentines, Chileans, Venezuelans, Brazilians, and other South Americans criticizing the colonizers, I only see Mexicans doing that. Do you know what they say in South America? Ignorantly many say that their countries are poor because they were colonized by the Spaniards and not by the British, a rather stupid thought, but at no time they call the colonizers "trespassers", because they know that everything that exists now in this continent is thanks to they.
It seems to me that many Mexicans are simply annoyed by the disproportionate wealth of the United States on the continent, and they want to put their hands there, but since they emigrate illegally, they justify themselves by saying that the colonizers are just like them.
And I do not think they act with a sense of belonging, have you seen what "Latinos" say in the United States? They criticize their own countries, and the people who live there, Alicia Machado, the Venezuelan who went on a campaign with Hillary Clinton, did not think twice before trampling her own country and waving the flag of the United States. But really many of them do not care about the Americas, they only care about riches, that is why they are not interested in making their own country prosper and only go to the United States.
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Ok... that is like saying my laws/rules are better than yours, so your laws/rules don't count.
This is also not true, most of the American territory was not inhabited, not even explored, before the arrival of the Europeans. Many Europeans inhabited places before any native tribe did.Look at the map in the link I shared, Native American Tribes lived all over the entire continent.
You can call them whatever you want, trespassers, conquerors, thieves, pillagers, etc... it does not matter. It is a simple concept, the Native Americans were on the land first and the Europeans came and took it from them. Debating about what laws/rules did or did not exist and which were de facto or de jure is irrelevant. When Europeans were attacking Native Americans and kicking them off their land they were not worried about if they were breaking any of their rules/laws....
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The map in the link you placed does not show the territory they occupied, only shows an area where cultures and tribes were similar and were not the same, did not inhabit the entire continent, not even half.
This map is more accurate, although it is in Spanish. It shows how the largest amount of the continental territory was inhabited by nomadic tribes, which means that they had no fixed border or civilization, much less rules.
Why not, the Native Americans were not on the land first, only in some portions. And it is not a valid comparison to make with the current problems of illegal immigration that exists in the current United States.
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What you are saying here is that if you don't believe in acquisitive property rights, live directly off the land, wander around following the game and the seasons and live in such a was as to not need a structured, legalist authority structure you aren't actually occupying said land and so it's okay to be removed from that land by an invading people whose culture is fixated on acquisition, economic hierarchy, dominance and self-service. Correct?
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I would not say that. I am referring to the fact that in most of the continental territory there were no tribe, civilization or people, who, as nomads, did not have a clearly delimited territory. There were many areas that the Europeans conquered without there being an apex of American civilization, that is, without pushing anyone from that place. And that is the main part of the continental territory.
Nor would I say that European culture is fixated on acquisition, perhaps it would be the same for all human culture, if you see the great American civilizations such as the Incas or the Aztecs you could notice how they were also "fixated" on acquisition.
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We can make assumptions all night long about where they lived and what rules/laws they had and if you agree with them or not. It was a simple invasion by foreign invaders as it has occurred millions of times throughout thousands of years of human history on this planet.
I was not making comparison of illegal immigration problems, I was conjecturing that it is hypocritical to complain about trespassers in a country that was created by trespassers. If you believe the Europeans who came to this country were not trespassers that is your opinion as is mine that they were trespassers.
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I totally agree with you.
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Oh, and yes this would make sense if it were the trespassers complaining. I haven't trespassed anywhere and I am the one complaining.
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Apples and Oranges. It does matter. We have the UN and we can travel anywhere on the planet in a day. We can mass communicate instantaneously. The borders are known, and the justice system can travel that fast too.
So yeah is that history? Yes. Is it relevant to today? No. Not at all.
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Nope they couldn't. It isn't PUBLIC school the Dreamer act is for. That is for higher education. Which has increased in price dramatically once the government began GUARANTEEING student loans. If you look into it the vast majority of the institutions have taken extreme advantage of that which has lead to skyrocketing costs.
So this illusion the "government could afford to pay for everyone" is wrong on two fronts. First they might be able to DO that for a brief moment until this GUARANTEE lead to escalating costs as has happened with every GUARANTEE from the government. Second the government can't actually PAY for anything without first TAKING that payment from their citizens voluntarily or involuntarily.
Appeal to Tradition. Have not forgotten at all. It is just irrelevant in the modern era. The entire surface of the world is mapped, and the nations are known. It isn't a time of cultures exploring the unknown and imposing themselves upon those that the world is unaware of.
Also we have a LEGAL IMMIGRATION process which I am not opposed to. Trespassers I am very much against. LEGAL IMMIGRANTS go through a process and tend to actually integrate with the nation. Trespassers there is no such guarantee. Furthermore there is a double standard on how the trespassers are being treated and they expect the citizens to pay for it, or just live with the consequences.
This is not just a problem in the U.S. Immigration (Legal or Non) is becoming a problem in many places. Places like Sweden have aspects that are far worse than in the U.S.
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I am not talking about loans, loans only make banks and the people who own banks more wealthy, while charging young American students interest. I am talking about the government paying for schools, everything you are saying in your response that is not possible works just fine in Denmark and that is because they have a progressive taxation system https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2016-01-20/why-danes-happily-pay-high-rates-of-taxes
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I went to college with three Danes and two Norwegians. Not one of them went home they graduated. They all stayed in the US because of the high taxation in their homelands.
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Loans were an example. The prices of our schools in the U.S. are rising NOT because it is a loan. They are rising because the government guarantees that it will back those loans. The prices are increasing because there is a guaranteed paycheck. So if somehow your prices for schooling are fixed and do not change that might make sense, but in the U.S. anything the government guarantees simply becomes like a budget situation for businesses. "I must show that we spent all that money or next year they'll decrease my budget" with the net effect being they (Schools, Hospitals, etc) being subsidized by the U.S. government increase their prices ever year.
Prior to the Guaranteed Student Loan program students might qualify for a Pell Grant but it didn't pay for everything and most people don't qualify. Other than that you could apply for PRIVATE scholarships. What remained the student had to find a way to pay.
With Guaranteed Student Loan everyone can go to higher education and the price to go to higher education has gone through the roof since it is guaranteed. The result is tons of people have huge debt when/if they graduate. Furthermore, universities have become organizations that just try to mass educate and the quality is pretty dismal. I have joked that a lot of these degrees might as well have come as a special prize out of Kracker Jacks boxes. Yet, in many cases that is true.
So it is a GUARANTEED LOAN... but it is the GOVERNMENT GUARANTEEING it. The same thing would happen if you remove the word LOAN. The keyword here is GUARANTEE.
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As a result, a college degree is almost meaningless. In the past, kids left school, got a job and worked their way up. If they were good workers the company was happy to train them.
Now we have college graduates who have wasted four to six years of their lives getting an education without learning work skills. They whine that there are no good jobs available. We call them Snowflakes.
In Canada, most jobs require job certification before a company will even look at your resume. A prospective worker can borrow money from the government and pay thousands of dollars for privately run certification programs at inflated prices. The companies love this. It's called "externalizing expenses."
Many students today have the equivalent of a house payment but no house. Those student loans are very hard to default on. They are the virtual shackles of modern day slavery.
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Yep I'll give someone a test I make up on the spot to check their skills, how good they are at problem solving, etc before I even consider hiring them. This is what I'll do with or without a degree as the degrees are largely worthless. They are more a large sign of debt.
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Like I said Denmark (and many other countries) have a functioning system. So I am not sure what your argument is, we already have proof that a more progressive system works.
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Oh I thought I should qualify. You won't EVER convince me that taxation of the income is just. I see it as theft. I believe in voluntarism. Guess what? Slavery worked too. That doesn't mean I endorse it that it was right.
I will not endorse stealing from people by the government and then the government choosing how to pay for it.
That doesn't mean I am against all government forms of income. If they put a tax, fee, etc on things that are voluntary and that people can live without then I don't have as much of a problem with that. Then if people object they can avoid those things, and they may lose some services and such, but as long as it doesn't make them unable to survive I don't have a problem with it.
I do have problems with involuntary situations where the person has no choice or they will be doomed in some way.
I thought I'd pass that along so you wouldn't waste too much time trying to make me think progressive taxation is just. I see it as just another form of slavery. Slaves sometimes are content.
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I am a supporter of democracy, what you or I think about taxation is irrelevant. If the majority of a society democratically decide they want everyone to contribute 10% of their income so all children in the society can attend school for free I am fine with that decision because thats how democracy works.
The people who dont agree with the decision of the majority, have a choice to either live with it or move to another location into a society that have the same mind set as they do...
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There is no QUANTITY of people that should ever magically be able to FORCE action upon others. If there is then where is that magical line. Democracy is put on a pedestal, but then how many people truly think about it.
What is the magical number? If 51% of the people say it is okay to enslave the other 49% of the population then does that make that okay?
I don't have the right to tell my neighbor how to live. My family and I don't have the right to tell my neighbor how to live. My neighborhood and I (except for that neighbor) don't have the right to tell my neighbor how to live. My city, my state, the world.
There is no magical number where it is suddenly okay to FORCE another human to act against their will. This is called slavery. Wrap it up in a fancy suit, but if they have no choice then it is still enslavement.
This goes for stealing from people too. Wrap it up in a big shiny bow named "government" doesn't change the fact it is stealing if it is involuntary.
Also just to save some time... don't bother saying "if you don't like it move" as this is a rather STUPID thing to say that usually comes up about this time in the discussion.
You don't want to be enslaved? Fine, move and leave all your stuff behind... good luck finding somewhere to live... You could maybe homestead the ocean if you are very wealthy... oh, you're not wealthy enough to do that? Too bad, I guess you're just stuck being a slave.
So the "you can leave" is a bullshit statement that usually comes up about now. If you were not thinking that then my apologies, I just wanted to save some back and forth replies that generally occur about this point in this argument.
EDIT: And yeah you did say it. So I guess you didn't really think out how realistic that is. That sounds great until you put a federal government over it all and keep giving that government more and more power so there no longer are allowed places with different mindsets.
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I have read your story twice to be able to understand it a bit. Often problems are hidden because the promise can not be fulfilled. One keeps hoping against better knowledge and because one does not know how to solve it.
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Well people admitting it didn't work and they were wrong is an important step. Then they can focus on finding something different to try. People (not just progressives) often have a problem with admitting they were wrong. It seems politicians rarely cancel a law as a "bad idea" instead they just keep adding to it as though that will fix it. They are far too fixated in protecting their "legacy" than determining if that "legacy" is actually working or not.
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You leave me without words.... this is so realistic, we see it around us, ... and what can we do ?
This post need some overthinking!
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So cool that wow
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loving to your blog.thanks for sharing
I agree with you in general terms..
those whom we call the left is insane.
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Before that, vengeance has to be removed from the mind of the people. Then people will be good.
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Liberalism is dead- the modern progressive uses thuggery- they are the epitome of fascism.
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And one of their largest mercenary bands is ironically called Anti-Fascists.... ANTIFA.
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I don't think socialists have been traditionally very open-border people :P
No. It is never noble because charity is bullshit. Eat a man who knows how to fish or sth like that. China is doing exactly that in Africa right now, btw.
You forget that it is already a reality that you pay 50% of your income as tax. Therefore you can demand the state to handle stuff. Seems like you are in dire need of some public toilets :3
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the ultra rich pay 95% of the taxes in the USA
over 50% of the people pay zero.
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But the ultra-rich also don't want people to shit in the streets where they sell their overpriced garbage. That is why they pay taxes.
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Too much Corona?
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I've tried it...doesn't float my boat.
Dos Secos it's tooo bad
but.
Negro Modelo is much better.
(note...I can't spell spanish...so I do the best I can)
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My favorite is Bohemia. It has a touch of bergamot. Pacifico is good too, but Tecate is why they started squeezing lime into Mexican beer...to cover the flavor of the can. lol
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the delicate taste of aluminium?
do you recall when they used STEEL cans?
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so you are holding the candle for the 0.1%?
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yup.
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Nice Stockholm Syndrom, mate
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California apparently is. This CRAP (literally) has not spread to the rest of the nation. :)
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I can speak Spanish, and the term "progresista" (progressive) was one widely used by Che Guevara in his speeches, he really used it as a synonym for socialism. And we are talking about a person who was not in favor of homosexuality, in fact, he criticized it openly, and who was also quite racist, making harsh criticisms against the Mexicans and the Latin American Indians in the famous motorcycle diary.
Nor could we say that they are liberal, rather they are libertines, but they are in favor of blatant state intervention and large reductions in liberties for individuals.
So for me the terms "liberal" and "progressive" are only a facade for "socialist", but I would not even give them this denomination, because many of those people do not even know what socialism is. It is only cultural marxism, they are socialists by idiosyncrasy and not by ideology.
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That is pretty accurate for how it actually works out here in the U.S. It also should explain why our media is so anti-Trump and why they focus on everything he does "Even how he drinks water" as they've begun to lose control.
There are a few exceptions but when it comes to the media they are very outrun in the U.S. Also California is largely run by such people. Considering that is where so much of the film industry and such comes from, and where Silicon Valley began it should be no surprise they have the loudest and most numerous of voices in the media.
People are beginning to see through it though.
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Lunacy is the right word! Just more reasons why they all need to be in a mental hospital if they think like that!
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why is it a binary solution set?
(left vs right)
that's terribly restrictive.
I agree with you in general terms..
those whom we call the left is insane...
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Yeah, I know people on the left and the right that are not the same. So I am generalizing about the current majority.
It is also why I mentioned that I consider myself human, independent, and I can do my own thinking. :)
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human, independent, and I can do my own thinking.
I'm right there with you on two out of three.
I'm not really sure about the human part...
(insert scary music here)
Am I human?
or
Is this a dream?
will I wake up?
am i in the matrix?
how can I tell.
(end scary music and cut to commercial break)
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Commercial break on a new improved pill, just don't listen to all the warnings ;-)
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I'm deaf, so I always have subtitles on. When those drug commercials come on I can't hear what they're saying, but I can read all the warnings. I always laugh when I see people laughing and spinning in a field of daises while warnings about death and paralysis scroll at the bottom. It's a real riot.
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ain't THAT the damn truth.
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Why would someone take that crap... The list of just the warnings tell you not to take it...
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no idea.
however...those commercials are NOT cheap.
and yet there they are...a LOT of them.
they must be selling the stuff or they'd quit advertising.
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excellent post ..loving to your blog.thanks for sharing..
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my dog can't shit in the woods , but they can shit in on the side walk..
use one of those pet poop bags as glove and throw it at them. opps thats assualt now I go to jail and they can feed me while I sit and read books, and free education, cable,armed security. ;-)
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i guess everyone should read this fine post so cool for everyone !!!
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We do have an obscene problem with a shortage of housing here in California, which also causes a large homeless population, but it's not because of taxes or illegal immigration exactly. Property taxes are actually pretty low on average here. The illegal immigrants make their own density by piling up in single family homes with like 20 people, so I doubt they have much effect on the price of real estate here.
It's mostly because of failed government interference in markets, that of zoning restrictions and open space easements. Zoning restrictions are generally very restrictive on official population density in California. In addition, most places have height restrictions on buildings, so even if you could legally make it more dense it wouldn't be possible anyway, all in the name of saving the "natural" views. They've resorted to allowing people to build "granny flats" in their back yards because the problem has gotten so bad lately. They're basically sheds with power and plumbing and people are going to start paying rent to live in them. Any newcomers (illegal or otherwise) would easily be absorbed if these restrictions were lifted.
Open space easements are another wonderful gift from the government here. They restrict certain private property from being developed, so there's basically just a bunch of vacant unusable land laying around that's a useless fire hazard. It occasionally gets snatched up by some connected individual who buys it for pennies on the dollar and uses his political connections to lift the easement and develop it, but us mere mortals would be prohibited from doing so. Regardless of that, I still think it's a net positive when it happens, but most of it is just wasted as vacant land.
This is not to mention the unusual amount of city, state and federal government owned land here that is also laying vacant (also a fire hazard where most of the fires start or grow out of control). At least in NY I could hunt on state land. I think it's a felony to even carry a slingshot on state land here. They've banned shooting on BLM and National Forest land due to "fire danger from shooting" and it's illegal to discharge firearms within city limits, so forget about it there. it doesn't please the crown that we should take his game. Some people camp and hike in these places, but even that is pretty limited. It's just waste in my opinion.
That said, having moved here from NY, I'd say NY is still more locked down socialist than CA, although CA's been catching up since I moved here. At least I still don't get pulled over for no good reason every couple of months here like I did in NY. The damn speed trap racket they run there almost bankrupted me several times.
Oh, just thought of another thing about San Fran. I think they have rent controls up there like in NYC. They're trying to do that in San Diego right now in some of the high end beach areas. It's a disaster when they do it. It drives out all of the builders and everybody has to fight over the scraps that are left over.
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I imagine being basically a sanctuary state and full of sanctuary cities doesn't help with that problem. (And yes, I see you say it doesn't have much of an impact)
New York City? Or are you meaning the entire NY State?
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The entire state. I grew up in the Buffalo-Niagara region. NYC is definitely the worst of it, but a lot of state policy is dictated from there anyway and the left controls almost everything politically save for a few rural counties. I don't remember traveling anywhere in the state where I didn't get hassled by traffic cops on a regular basis for the smallest of infractions (literally got pulled over twice for a license plate light that was "out," when it was just a clouded lens and therefore not very bright, that kind of bullshit all the time), taxes were higher in most cases, commerce is more restricted (you need a special license to shovel and plow snow), somehow power is more expensive with that cash cow of a Niagara Power Project sitting there, more state welfare programs, stricter gun regulations, fewer employment opportunities, you name it. It was a shitty place to try to make a living and live (except my loved ones who I miss all the time of course). Like I said, CA has closed the gap on a lot of those criteria over the decade plus I've been here, but NYS (New York State) is still worse in most ways in my opinion, having lived in both places.
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It is ironic how the supposedly "liberal" and "progressive" seems to quickly to devolve into the most repressive and police state like. Though when the Germans embraced National "Socialism" to then become the NAZI party they kind of showed where it normally goes. It didn't happen just with them. Fascism and Socialism tend to like to do a married couple style dance all over the corpses of their "citizens" and they are really good at pretending "it's not me, it's someone elses fault, let's KILL them, Yell at them, and repress them while accusing them of being the ones full of hate."
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Was the Shah of Iran socialist? he headed a fascist regime with US support after the CIA coup against Mossadegh (a nationalist that happened to be effectively against communism).
Was Guatemala after the coup against Arbenz, again, CIA-led coup, socialist? No, it was also fascist, with heavy US military support for decades and that little "extra": torture.
What about Chile? Allende's socialist, democratically elected government ousted, again by the CIA in tandem with the local military. Pinochet takes his place: Fascism, repression and torture again.
only 3 examples out of dozens since the end of WWII. Third world governments wanting their resoruces to benefit themselves and trying to redistrubute the wealth concentrated in the elites (just like it concentrates there now, as in everywhere in the "free world", since the US effectively impose its rules) and then getting toppled and replaced with client regimes, fascist client regimes with widespread torture and repression by local military men trained in the "School of the Americas", Georgia, US. What did they learn there? all those military men from South America? "counterinsurgency", that is repression, torture, destruction of free speech and any kind of disidency. The elite's wealth kept in the elite's hands, as it should be, according to the Empire.
Amazing what the propaganda apparatus can achieve right in its source. But also here in the Third World, as most people is completely ignorant of what I mentioned above, some even think they are actually "liberating" something. Pretty sure humanity is no that dumb, they just don't care, is easier not to know all this.
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And the term originated with Mussolini, Franco, and Hitler.
I see people call things fascists today while they themselves act more like the fascists.
Was/is fascism a real thing? Definitely. Yet it is more than disagreeing with a person. It encompassed specific approaches to dealing with people. Each case had its equivalent of brown shirts in those three historical precedents.
As to the others I haven't studied them to know if they did as well. I also don't know if they are truly fascist or not without looking into them.
I do know the so-called anti-fascists we have in the U.S. act more like brownshirts and fascists than anyone else in our nation. They do everything they can to silence free speech, they advocate violence to do it. They believe they are fighting fascism, but sadly most of them don't know much about actual fascism.
Could this be the case in your other examples? I don't know since I haven't looked into those particular examples. I looked into the three progenitor cases.
Typically it is government run by the corporations. Yet, people naively believe socialism avoids this. Instead it grants monopoly on a grand scale. It is essentially corporations with guaranteed no-bid contracts. Fascists LOVE socialism. They don't like free market though. Thus, why they do what they can to make certain it is not free and is in their control.
The three wealthiest people in the U.S. lately have been pushing massive amounts of socialist drivel. Much like the Nazis did.
People think the ideas are great when they don't have to think about the fact they have to steal from people to push these agendas.
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Excellent, you completely avoided any kind of meaningful response. The info is available, if you don't know about it perhaps you don't care, except you do talk about it, a lot.
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If you can't see the meaning. That doesn't mean there isn't one. More arrogance...
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loving your steemit blog and post.
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Love this post
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welcome "greenwhell79" to @techin
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Thanks for this great news
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Thanks for the important info
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waiting for more from you dwinblood! keep motivating!
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Why not stop spending trillions in arms for destroying half of the Middle East and occupy the world through hundreds of military bases? Running an empire isn't cheap I guess... By the way what you describe as progressive is, as you said, not progressive at all. Reading your post one could think that the Soviets won the Cold War and we live in some kind of socialist nigthmare, yet your bankers, (I don't believe they are "socialists") are doing as fine as always.
And the US gov gives out free stuff by the billions, look at Israel, while your veterans kill themselves on the streets in complete abandonment. The massive subsides to US agriculture, isn't that the government giving you "free things"?
Thinking about it... the US is socialist, just not about human beings, only huge corporations. As when they invade countries like Iraq and then US corporations earn billions in "reconstruction", adding to the billions the military industrial complex makes, again with huge subsidies because of "national security". the US is a huge Welfare State, paradoxically, no socialism is involved. Actually, your government deeply hates you. They use the excuse of "national security" to destroy HUGE amounts of wealth that are more than enough for everyone in your country to have a great life, including "trespasser". (literally destroy, as in huge balls of fire, you turn wealth into bombs and just explode them somewhere, just imagine the effect those trillions would have in your society, but they will not let you thrive, you might end up taking their power)
With all due respect my honest belief is that you only read what supports the side of things you already chose.
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None of that is free. We pay for it. The government can't give anything for FREE. They just are good at spending other people's money or putting those people into debt, or both.
Central banks dominate the world. They don't care whether you are capitalist, socialist, communist, or fill in the blank. As long as they control the monetary system.
The U.S. is a hybrid monster. It is a lot of different things. Though it does have an increasing amount of socialism. It also has a lot of people that don't even know their own history. I mean how many of them bother to ask if there was no IRS and no such thing as income taxes then "how did the government pay for things for the first 120+ years" as now people don't think it is possible to govern without income tax. They can't even imagine it.
I don't advocate the spending of huge sums on military either. Yet that was not the scope of what I wrote about, therefore you can't really know what I chose or did not choose.
I'll tell you that socialism likes to pretend it is "compassionate" and it is the bastion of the virtue signalling. Yet there is nothing compassionate about spending someone elses money. True compassion comes from reaching into your own pocket and choosing to help someone yourself. There is not a single ounce of compassion in authorizing people to steal from other people no matter what fancy mental clothing one tries to dress it up in.
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It's free for them. It's like you are trying to establish the principle that wealth must come from somewhere, somebody has to produce it, of course. But that's not the point and sorry but I don't consider your attempts to avoid the subject as smart or astute enough. Let's just keep talking about those mean "trespassers", that problem is a priority. The US spending billions in destroying other societies can wait, after all, "trespassers" are taking a dump on the street somewhere near you.
"Trespassers"? do you urinate around the perimeter of your home? You sound extremely territorial. At some point, some people designed some maps and borders, most of the times after wars, by force. Since it's convenient for us right now let's respect them, perhaps tomorrow the Empire (very important word) will need to "trespass" one more time, but that's fine.
Again you completely evaded the central point(sorry, I'm being arrogant by assuming you "evaded" it, perhaps you just missed it). I'll say it clearly: The West is not dominated by socialism, explaining the state of our world today taking into consideration socialism as a major force is just dishonest and wilfully blind. That's my opinion.
I fail to see the socialism, do you mean in discourse? There is, as you say, a lot of talk about it, but discourse isn't exactly what matters.
Socialism is whatever the people executing the policies makes it. Most of the time it fails miserably for a lot of very different reasons.
I disagree. Property involves power and force, in my opinion. With military power, you just take whatever you want and then you completely and legally own it because you make the laws. What makes us so different from those who were born in absolute poverty? why cling like that to "our" things as we somehow deserve it, are we that special and different from those "trespassers"? A lack of empathy explains this, in my opinion. An incapacity to see yourself reflected on those you don't identify yourself with due to color, culture, beliefs, etc. They are the "other", let's blame them for everything. (I'm not saying this is your perspective, as you said, I don't know you).
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This is rather arrogant. You can infer what I read and don't read from this. That is bullshit. You think way too highly of your mind reading capabilities.
I tend to keep a very open mind. I also read a lot of material. I use simple math. I use logic. I use reason. I also look closely at history. I pay attention to the claims of people. I've been having these debates for years. So I honestly believe you should be looking in a mirror when you write something like that last sentence.
How many debates between different scholars from say the post 1940 era and perhaps some before that have you read? How many debates between advocates for different forms of economics have you read?
See I don't know what you've read. I also cannot infer that from the little bit you've written. Yet that is skirting the zone where the virtue signalling bullshit is coming from.
I refuse to be politically correct, I refuse to try super hard not to offend people. Some things are going to offend people, and if I was being honest. So what? It's called life. Now you didn't say anything in particular that I disagreed with other than your last sentence. I also consider it very arrogant and presumptuous.
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You are right about this. But I have to add that you avoided any kind of debate or criticism to what I said, except for this speculation about what you might or might not read, which was wrong to do. In everything else you just avoided the subject, sometimes cleverly, sometimes not so much.
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And you presume you actually said anything significant that warranted a response? You assume that a few paragraphs in a reply can actually state something significant in this post? This typically is something that would take a very deep post of their own to me. Then I might be able to respond. I didn't actually see much of substance in the response that warranted a reply. That doesn't mean it may not be there. I just don't see it.
Oh really? I thought it was my post and I set the subject. It looked to me like you were taking it into areas my post didn't mention as if I had just written a huge book on the subject and I left out some areas you wanted to poke at.
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