http://www.alternet.org/democracy/105652/mccain%27s_big_backfire%3A_majo...
McCain's Big Backfire: Majority of Americans Like the Idea of Spreading the Wealth
By Alexander Zaitchik, AlterNet. Posted November 1, 2008.
John McCain and Joe the Plumber are campaigning for Barack Obama, and they don't even know it. The more McCain has ramped up his attacks on Obama as a "spreader of wealth," the more the country has lined up behind the Democrat's plan to spread the wealth. If McCain's economic agenda was a gun and his attacks on Obama's agenda the bullets, the old soldier would have shot both his feet clean off a long time ago.
Watching the GOP's coordinated if increasingly delirious attacks on Obama's economic plan, it's clear that the party is even further out of touch with the America of 2008 than previously imagined. After eight years of establishing and then extending America's lead as the most unequal of all industrialized countries, Republicans thought they could deflect a national groundswell of righteous anger by dusting off and hurling every insult in the conservative arsenal, including old favorites "extremist," "radical," "Marxist" and "socialist." One suspects they are saving "anarchist" and "Hessian" for McCain's last-gasp speech on Monday.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the Republican hammer-and-sickle-themed haunted house: Nobody showed. The McCain campaign's attempts to smear Obama as a Trojan donkey for socialistic un-Americanism have belly-flopped, if not backfired.
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Equality is scary stuff. Each and every person has to deeply reckon with self, others, and the planet. Big challenges. Inevitably... every possible button's going to get pushed on this one.
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This was a reply to Robert and Truth..I do know why it got posted here:(
I was just listening to a podcast of Tom Woods on the net, He said something like "There has to be a better way to settle differences without going to war"
Of course he was talking about on the larger scope... as when countries go to war when having a disagreement. But I can't help thinking, there has to be a better way to have differing opinions and ongoing dialect between two people without attacking each other personally! Maybe we can teach our government how to treat us ....by us treating each other better. Just a thought :) BTW...I threw a communication bomb today as well, old habits die hard!
I was just reflecting, I hope you do mind me interjecting...carry on:)
1. Every one of the criticisms of the Republicans by the Democrats is correct
2. Every one of the criticisms of the Democrats by the Republicans is correct (especially that they are Marxists)
3. Everything that the Republicans want to do is wrong
4. Everything that the Democrats want to do is wrong.
These 4 all proceed from one, fundamental assumption: Both parties believe that the state (which to most of them is simply the government) is sovereign over the individual. A few Democrats think the collective (a.k.a. "the people") are sovereign over the individual. A few Republicans think the wealthy are sovereign over the individual.
Since the worldview of both parties is wrong, everything they try to do is wrong, and the more successful they are, the more problems they cause.
The latest pseudo-virtue is "bipartisanship." The best thing that could happen to us is 2 generations of gridlock. They've done enough damage for a while.
Tom Mullen
www.tommullen.net
www.myspace.com/skepticsongs
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God" - Thomas Jefferson
Do you think the state should take wealth from the rich and re-distribute it to the poor in the form of welfare, social programs, universal health care and Obama's proposed "tax credits"?
A tax credit, by the way, is not a refund on your income tax as the name deceptively implies, but rather a payment from the government to anyone who makes below a certain income. Remember, that's not a refund of the recipient's own money: "tax credits" go to the 40% of Americans who don't pay any federal income tax. That is other people's money, taken away from them and given to the low income person.
A tax credit, by the way, is not a refund on your income tax as the name deceptively implies, but rather a payment from the government to anyone who makes below a certain income. Remember, that's not a refund of the recipient's own money: "tax credits" go to the 40% of Americans who don't pay any federal income tax. That is other people's money, taken away from them and given to the low income person.
Would that be hard working people like Britney Spears and Nicole Smith (while she was alive) are subsidizing public school teachers in New Jersey or Chehalis, WA? Last time I checked public school teachers make about $30,000 to $40,000 a year and get most of their returns back including child tax credits if they are single parents.
I am not advocating for taxes, but has anyone questioned it in this context before, and isn't it a lil' disturbing that the amount of money someone makes is deciding the quality of their contribution?
I think the state should mind it's own business.
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Freedom is an inside job
>>"I think the state should mind it's own business."
So are you against welfare, universal health care, assisted housing, and all other social programs run by the government and payed for with taxes?
Do you think the government has no business creating jobs, setting minimum wages, forcing corporations to work with unions, bailing out banks or homeowners who can't pay their mortgage, regulating banks?
There is so much more, but the list is just way too long. Let me put it this way:
Do you think that the only business of government is to provide defense for the country against foreign attack and to ensure that we have law enforcement and courts to enforce contracts and prevent people from stealing property and committing acts of violence? Is everything else not the government's business?
Yeppers!...I think it all must go!
YAY! Human action!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UQQmAc-yBU
there is infrastructure...
I'm a limited govt person.
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Freedom is an inside job
The Constitution of the United States
Preamble
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
What exactly is infrastructure?...and how does it become the dominion of the state? Some of these clowns actually believe the critical public assets are somehow rental property. It is simply absurd to allow this to go on. Not sure where in the Constitution these clowns read that public assets are their own rental properties!!!
and now the dilemmas and contradictions start...
well....
you know....
we need the govt to do abc because...
and not support, but maybe if it's a child then, you know, would you want to see a child on the street?
so....
maybe the govt should also do xyz...
but only in this special circumstance...
like a broken record
on and on it goes
yes i think in this issue regarding the wealth Redistribution Obama has scored among all the americans and also ther is no rooms for republicans to intrude.
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sathyan
MLS
as sick as that sounds that is also my position: not only most Americans, but most people love the "spread the wealth" idea. this is mostly due to the fact that most people are idiots and cannot ever hope to take personal responsibility. most people will never strive for anything and the idea of stealing from those who have succeeded and spreading the fruits of their labor amongst the leaches sounds mighty tasty.
What is your position? Are you a socialist sliding toward true communism; are you one of the "needy" who "will never strive for anything" and feel that "the idea of stealing from those who have succeeded and spreading the fruits of their labor amongst the leaches sounds mighty tasty."? I couldn't get a true sense of your position, based upon your post.
"Between capitalist and communist society there lies the period of the revolutionary transformation of the one into the other. Corresponding to this is also a political transition period in which the state can be nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat." - Karl Marx
Communism evolves from socialism out of this progression: the socialist slogan is “From each according to his ability, to each according to his work.” The communist slogan varies thusly: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
What say you awesomo5000?
> What is your position? Are you a socialist sliding toward true communism
< somehow i knew that my comment will be completely misinterpreted. my position is that most people love the idea of socialism. is that most people love the idea of socialism, is that most people love the idea of socialism. clear now? i'm not now, nor was i ever in favour of theft by the state. i have the ability to be productive and like the idea of having "my stuff" that i worked for.
I seek clarity first; then, if possible agreement. I'm glad you clarified your position and now I can see that we are somewhat like-minded regarding the vile nature of the socialist state machine. Remember, clarity first...agreement if possible.
Not most people.
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Freedom is an inside job
OK. I get it. You are somewhat disenchanted with the republican party. I see that you have mastered the art of copy and paste. Do you have anything substantive to add, aside from surfing the far left blogosphere and lifting this drivel.
I do see what appears as perhaps a thought of your own; "Equality is scary stuff. Each and every person has to deeply reckon with self, others, and the planet. Big challenges. Inevitably... every possible button's going to get pushed on this one."
Now weren't we, just the other day, debating the egalitarianism and human nature. I seem to recall you were pretty well on the side of global "egalitarianism" and some kind of "humane distribution of wealth". Are you now saying that your're not sure because the ramifications of "equality is scary stuff..."? I may be misreading your intent or the words at the end of this post are merely residual drivel from the quoted author.
What say you Truthserum?
You hsve been consistently judgmental and sarcastic. Can't you come up with a better way to communicate?
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Freedom is an inside job
OK. I'll bite. Just exactly what is your suggestion for "a better way to communicate?" Shall I read what you post and shower you with praise for your insights (or to be precise, praise for the authors you cite)?; shall I read your posts and not "judge" the content against what I believe to be true, but rather, assume that the positions you advocate (evidenced by the content you've submitted) are far superior?
On second thought - I think not. I will continue to judge the ideas and thoughts I read here. I will also challenge the ideas and thoughts I believe to be inconsistent and/or downright wrong. It is abundantly clear to me that many social progressives (read that however you wish) are unable to fully commit to their positions beyond parroting the drivel of attack partisans and failed ideologies. Sooner or later one must commit or withdraw from the field of battle. Arm yourself and fight Truthserum! Examine your positions and commit to something.
"Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule--and both commonly succeed, and are right... The United States has never developed an aristocracy really disinterested or an intelligentsia really intelligent. Its history is simply a record of vacillations between two gangs of frauds." -- H. L. Mencken
not worthy of response.
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Freedom is an inside job
It appears you have invoked your keen faculties to "judge" my post unworthy of response. How wonderfully ironic; you of all people, TruthSerum; judging someone else's post:)!:)!:)!:)!:) Welcome to reality TruthSerum.