How I see the political spectrum, and why.

[Shadowfax]

lol

 

[Nixy]

I am close to Gandhi too

A little more Libertarian

 

[ris]

i must admit to still be reading ayn rand's fountainhead. its been about 2 months since i last picked it up and its not calling me any. its not the political agenda thats offending me, more how badly its written.

 

[Luis G]

now this is something to worry about, too much right-authoritarian.

btw, i did it again and i got:
Economic Left/Right: -1.62
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -1.95

 

[Leslie]

 

[outside looking in]

 

[Squiggy]

 

[chcr]

I take each issue on it's own merits, regardless of what part of the politcal spectrum my opinion reflects. Same with political candidates. I want one that will shut the fuck up and do his job.

 

[Squiggy]

That makes you the winner....Now what do we do...

 

[Ardsgaine]

Yes but no, as i see it, socialism is just another way to ensure that people have a job and can earn enough to live. It supresses social classes by ensuring that everybody has the same level of wealth.

Yes, socialism is a means of dividing up wealth. It assumes that the wealth will be there regardless, and that the only question is how it should be distributed. What it neglects to consider is that wealth has to be created, and that the driving force behind the creation of wealth is the individual human mind. A man comes up with an idea to increase production, he puts the idea into effect and then the socialist comes along and says, "you have too much wealth. You're depriving your fellow man of his fair share, so we have to take away your wealth and give it to the less fortunate," i.e., those who either weren't intelligent enough to come up with the idea, or motivated enough to put the idea into practice. Socialism destroys the incentive to strive for greater production. It makes people equal by making them all poor.

Capitalism is a system that encourages the production of wealth, by allowing those who produce to keep what they produce. It's goal is not economic equality, but economic justice. Each person gets what he has earned based on what he contributes to the production of wealth. The method by which this is achieved is purely negative: people contract freely with each other in the economy, and they are the ones who decide how much a person's production is worth. The government takes no position on how much people deserve, it simply enforces the contracts that they negotiate, and prevents anyone from taking another person's wealth by force or fraud.

However, i think there should be a modification to that approach and leave the decision of either working or not to the individual.

Do you mean that people should receive an income whether they work or not?

 

[Ardsgaine]

I take each issue on it's own merits, regardless of what part of the politcal spectrum my opinion reflects. Same with political candidates. I want one that will shut the fuck up and do his job.

Meaning that you don't decide the issues by referring to any underlying ethical principles?

 

[Ardsgaine]

perhaps it would be good for your personal development to read that if you haven't already....gives a person a WIDE view on certain things...puts things into perspective.
it's hard to judge something you don't know jack shit about, in your case quite clearly communism

I have a thread going on Marxism. It could really use some input from someone who's familiar with his writings. So far there have only been ten posts, four of them mine.

 

[Janimal]

What type of company do you work for? ...and does their business practices fall in line with your ideology?

You could say he works for me. Really it's for our family. So yes, our business practices fall completely in line with our ideology.

 

[Leslie]

Do you mean that people should receive an income whether they work or not?

I think, in most cases, barring the utterly lazy of course, yes, people should receive an income. We're not all born intelligent, due to a great many influences we don't all have the knowhow and confidence or just dumb luck to go ahead and build something up...and some people just can't at certain times in their lives...I don't think those people should be forced to live in mud shacks and starve to death.

 

[Ardsgaine]

I don't think those people should be forced to live in mud shacks and starve to death.

Forced? No one's forcing them to do anything. It's their choice to work for the things they need, beg for them or do without. What you're saying is because they choose not to work, someone else should be forced to support them.

 

[Leslie]

No, what I'm saying is because maybe for some reason they can't...

like me...I've had a huge blow to my psyche, I'm asea at the moment, can barely cope with my day to day shit...

I'm grateful that my government is there to do all it can to get me and my children back on the road to being able to do it ourselves...and I'm glad it's there to help all the others who for whatever reason just 'can't'

 

[Ardsgaine]

I've had three sisters who went through divorces, and as far as I know, none of them required government assistance. They got a small amount of help from me and other members of the family, but that, of course, was completely voluntary on our part.

 

[chcr]

Meaning that you don't decide the issues by referring to any underlying ethical principles?

Exactly. I decide each issue by how I think it will affect me and the people I care about. Selfish? Sure it is. I don't really much care about other peoples opinions. After all, the "underlying ethical principles" are subject to interpretation.

That makes you the winner....Now what do we do...

Sorry, I didn't know it was a contest. Still, glad I won.

Umm... There isn't by any chance a cash award, is there?

 

[Squiggy]

I've had three sisters who went through divorces, and as far as I know, none of them required government assistance. They got a small amount of help from me and other members of the family, but that, of course, was completely voluntary on our part.

Well that was pretty fucking cold hearted, Ards. Did it make you feel good?

 

[Q]

Not just good. Noble, Squiggs. I think the appropriate word is noble.