Ron Paul "Republicans Have Absolutely NO Credibility!"
There's a lot that Ron Paul says which I agree with and an awful lot that I don't agree with.
I don't agree with his notion that we have never had capitalism, as this seems to me to be a favourite conservative ruse whenever any fault in their thinking is exposed. Conservatism never fails, it is always failed. The problem is always that we haven't been right wing enough.
I do agree with his argument that the US is spending a trillion dollars on maintaining it's empire and that this would be the best place to make cuts. And I especially agree with his comments that the Republicans have no credibility on the subject of fiscal responsibility which they preach but do not practice.
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6 comments:
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"I don't agree with his notion that we have never had capitalism, as this seems to me to be a favourite conservative ruse whenever any fault in their thinking is exposed. Conservatism never fails, it is always failed. The problem is always that we haven't been right wing enough."
We have not had a free market in interest rates or a sound currency since 1913 or before. Freddy Mac and Fanny Mae are not "real private companies". The two hold most of the mortgages in America. The federal government was encouraging private banks to make loans to people who could not afford them.
Unfortunately, most Republicans don't seem to believe in capitalism either. Almost all of them voted for the bankster bailouts. That is not capitalism that is fascism plain and simple.
Anonymous makes a good point.
Ron Paul may have fallen into Bill's frame when he said we haven't had capitalism. It has been over regulated, but still capialistic. What we haven't had was a free market.
Whether we should be moving into more socialism or towards free market is an open philosophical debate. What we have may appear to be a compromise between the two, but it is really its own system. It isn't fair to say it is a failure of socialism or free market, since it is neither. You can't have a bailed out free market, or socialism for some. There are some things here that have shown themselves to be a failure:
The two party system.
Keynesian economics.
Corporate welfare.
Fractional reserve lending.
Government sponsored companies.
The spending and exploding national debt will sink the US.
More Americans Are Saying: “It’s Not Our National Debt” – Join the Revolt!
Washington has bailed out the banks, Wall Street & their Washington special interests and much of the cost is added to the national debt to by paid by this and future generations while real estate and investments continue to fall.
The Campaign to Cancel the Washington National Debt By Constitutional Amendment is starting now in the U.S. See: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=67594690498&ref=ts
All I am saying is that to argue that we haven't been right wing enough is no different from the argument the British Labour party used to use in the eighties, which was that we kept losing because we weren't left wing enough. Implying that the people hadn't rejected us and and our policies, they were simply angry that we had weren't extreme enough, which is why they voted for the other side. It's an utterly irrational argument.
The public didn't reject the Republican philosophy because it was not capitalistic enough, they rejected it because we have had a financial catastrophe. And they were in the White House at the time. So they get the blame. Why not? They were in charge.
It isn't fair to say it is a failure of socialism or free market, since it is neither.
I agree. The answer is somewhere in the middle. We have to maximise what is good about the free market whilst enriching the lives of the many rather than the few.
The last Republican administration enriched the lives of the few. If Republicanism is good for the majority of the country then they simply have to prove that. Instead of relying on "the American dream" and implying all who oppose them are eaten up by jealousy and failure.
If your system helps the majority of people then they will vote for it.
Obama won because, at the moment, he is speaking for the majority.
We have a set of ingredients and a timer. You want to make custard and I want to make ice cream. Every four minutes we flip a coin to determine who is cooking. How will our food turn out? Would it be more rational to just try and make tepid milk in the first place?
It probably would SP, but who ever said the political process or people were rational?
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