Originally posted by eddie1960 I felt sorry for Obama because no matter what he managed to get through it would not be close to what he wanted and it would be too much fo a large percentage of people averse to any idea of social programs
It's just not a view i can ever understand. for me a country's first duty is to do it's best to protect the health and well being of their citizens so they can be productive members of society, and so they are punished for being born into a socio economic class.
I think we can agree that government has a role to protect the health and well being of its citizens. I think the question is how far does the government have the right to go to protect me and do they have an obligation to protect all citizens equally? Can the government justify diminishing the rights of one group for the benefit of another?
I find socialism somewhat of an ironic political ideology. The great religions of the world traditionally took care of the poor and sick through out history. It was the role of the church. The Catholic church is famous for its use of guilt and forced morality in order to bring in money to achieve its objectives. It is an incredibly wealthy and powerful organization. They have hidden a lot of "sins" behind this shield of morality. The socialists have taken a few plays from the playbook of religion when it comes to gaining public support. The morality card one of the most played. Government is the new religion for some people, and the playbook has been the same for the last 100 years. Class warfare. Envy. The promise of a better civilization.
Let's look at one of the most famous socialist movements in history.
The National Socialist German Workers' Party can into existence after WWI. They were a labor union party who had strong protectionist/nationalistic ideas. They wanted to protect German jobs from foreign competition. They preached the need to reunify the German empire with Austria and Prussia. Germany's economy was in shambles after WWI and war reparations were insanely punitive. When Germany failed to make its payments to France, France took control of a key industrial region of Germany and the political backlash from a nationalistic German people was very strong. This turmoil opened the door for the National Socialist party to grow significantly. They probably waged the most successful class warfare campaign in the history of the world. They went after a different 1% of the population who they identified as the cause of all of their problems. It is ironic that the Jewish population was in fact very close to 1%. Envy is a powerful tool for a politician. It is just not "fair" that they had more than most German citizens. "They" were getting rich on the backs of the German working class. Sound familiar?
The
Nationalso
zialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) or in English Nazi party rose to power on the good intentions of the people. People promising to do the right thing for the good of Germany. People who preached morality and purity. The German people had no idea the path they were headed down. It was a movement that started because it promised to help a struggling people. A people who were convinced that their plight was the fault of others. The rise of socialism and the centralization of government power was not a good thing by any means.
I don't buy the idea that socialism is morally superior. I think most socialist have great intentions and I think they aspire to accomplish great things. I don't think it is a sustainable system. I'm not implying that all socialists governments are going to spiral into a Nazi Germany type government, but I do take exception to the ideal that socialism has a better past than capitalism. It does bother me when I see socialist returning to class warfare as a means to an ends. I find it ironic that they criticize religious establishments for trying to dictate standards of morality and compassion while using the same tactics to argue for more government control.