tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post6611587031927138856..comments2024-03-18T19:14:18.804-04:00Comments on Daniel Greenfield / Sultan Knish Articles at DanielGreenfield.org : The Making of a Dependent ElectorateDaniel Greenfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13575285186581875356noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-46200709457244841092010-09-12T20:08:44.506-04:002010-09-12T20:08:44.506-04:00Monopolies can easily eliminate competition and fr...Monopolies can easily eliminate competition and free enterprise without any use of naked force, just by lowering prices to drive competition to bankruptcy.<br /><br />Big and diverse business conglomerates are equally dangerous as they acquire too much power in setting trends through advertising and media, themselves becoming substitute government, again without using any kind of naked force.<br /><br />Free markets should be protected by government enforcing anti-monopoly laws (and possibly protecting freedom of the press - the right to speak, for everyone). Ideally the Ministry of Truth (sic!) should be a government agency which would check every piece of published material and provide the public with full evidence to its veracity or otherwise.<br /><br />The roaring 20-s came after a period of active monopolies-breaking by the US government, it seems (by the other Roosevelt, was it?).<br /><br />As for elections, they should be made permanent. Why wait 4 years to withdraw the president who acts opposite to promises for which he was elected? We have computers now, we can vote each and every day, and the votes will be totaled every day and so the will of people will never be abused by the elected elites just because they got immunity to do whatever they please for 4 years.<br /><br />Plus, any voter should be able to directly vote on issues too that are especially important to him, instead of delegating his vote to a representative.<br /><br />To prevent too fast government changes which would be impractical and chaotic, simple dampening mechanism can be used - 65% majority required to overturn the govt in the 1st year, 55% in 2nd, then 50% + 1 vote, as usual.Will48http://reasonresponsibilityandchoice.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-45127937869317099622010-09-06T21:23:26.191-04:002010-09-06T21:23:26.191-04:00The House UnAmerican Committee may have gone overb...The House UnAmerican Committee may have gone overboard, but I wish there were some government entity investigating people whose actions are dangerously moving the US towards Communism.<br /><br />I don't know if the US has ever come this close to becoming a Socialist state.Keli Atahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05089132216830000713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-8385138137333799352010-09-06T15:48:13.564-04:002010-09-06T15:48:13.564-04:00"A multiparty system just insures that no one..."A multiparty system just insures that no one is represented, and you end up with the same political elites being able to dominate the process with even smaller numbers of votes."<br /><br />I think you've really lost a grip here. We don't have any kind of "party system" in the US. Our constitution protects access to government by anyone qualified under the constitution. Party membership is not required at all. And strictly speaking, we already have a "multiparty system" and of course we already have the same political elites being able to dominate the process. You can choose between the Democrats or the Republicans and no matter who you choose, you wind up with the same thing. The problem is the "two party system" where both parties confuse themselves with government and since it is necessarily the same government, they confuse themselves with each other. Of course they present enough differences to the public to make it look good, but look at where they agree. And they agree on far too many things too often contrary to the interests of this country, illegal immigration for example.<br /><br />The Soviet Union and the Communist Party are a good example of how political parties and government go wrong. There was a government in the Soviet Union, but very quickly the Communist Party defined the government to the point where the Communist Party Secretary became the first and last authority in government and the party secretary was the seat of dictatorship. The government was just a hollow shell in service to the political party. In the Soviet Union, it was just one party and in the United States, it is just one more party to make two with a few other "third parties" thrown in to dignify the facade.<br /><br />If the Republicans or the Democrats really mean anything as independent political parties, then they will endure without the primary election system. They can keep track of their own political members and they can nominate members for office free from an election where frequently the public is confused as to what the election is all about. Over and over again I've seen voters go in and vote in the primaries thinking it was the actual election for the office instead of an election for party nominees. Why does it necessariy follow that running their elections for nominees will destroy their influence in government leaving it to other parties to rise and splinter up the share of candidates? And if it take a fewer amount of votes from the public to make a party take the seat, so what? As long as that party cannot use government to adminster further nominees in primary elections, they still have to prove themselves to the public. Even worse, we have in California an absurdity in the idea of "open primaries" where all the nominees in the political parties run against each other in their respective parties and also run against each other and the top vote getters, I guess, all run against each other in the actual election. It is a desperate ploy against the rise of the "decline to state" voter and what that status inevitably points to, voter registration free from party registration and the end of the primary election system.Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13265154565691102783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-69882120111095088992010-09-06T15:43:40.925-04:002010-09-06T15:43:40.925-04:00The looting of America will continue until the $US...The looting of America will continue until the $US is worthless, and tyranny will follow. It is important for the electorate to vote in November, and hopefully return the legislative branch to conservative control.Marcnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-73384556130308577452010-09-06T15:11:54.242-04:002010-09-06T15:11:54.242-04:00Regarding capitalism and the use of that word, it ...Regarding capitalism and the use of that word, it is critical that one define his terms, otherwise a mess ensues. I define capitalism as an economic/political system in which ALL property is privately owned. (I did not originate this definition. It makes sense to me and that's why I use it.) The government owns no property and cannot regulate property. It's job then is to prosecute crimes of one person/group against another which means that it stops, restores where possible and punishes all instances of one man/group initiating physical force against another. This always comes down to a crime against property in which the property may be far flung or as close as one's own body.<br /><br />In this view of capitalism, a corporation is no more protected than any other business. It is free to engage in commerce to its heart content. If it infringes anyone's property it is open to prosecution as is anyone else in a capitalist system.<br /><br />The source, I think, of all the corruption is the entanglement of government and the economy. They need to be separate as are church and state. Let's face it, a government cannot control an economy for any rational reason given that the economy is so much more instantaneous and aware in its judgments and actions to further or correct human action. <br /><br />Given that, I don't see that the government's intervening in the economy has any purpose other than personal gain (power and money) of the politicians and their friends. We are told the government provides economic benefits but show me one case where the government has provided value even close to what private industry can do. I don't think it exists. Our poor are rich by the standards of many people in the world and that is from first hand observation. And that's because the measure of political success, votes, is not economic success, profit.<br /><br />The thing that is also never mentioned is that this entanglement of economy and state prevents the government from doing its proper job and thus, actually being something providing for the good of all of us. Without a clear cut idea of the proper role of government anyone going into government today has to be one frustrated human being. None of this has to be this way. All it takes is for us to sort this out. We have to get straight how things work and how they fit together. If things continue down the road we are on, we are going to be better off w/o a government and that heralds the rise of the black market.Principlexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15976696315627239104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-12734060815411165232010-09-06T12:38:15.368-04:002010-09-06T12:38:15.368-04:00a multiparty system just insures that no one is re...a multiparty system just insures that no one is represented, and you end up with the same political elites being able to dominate the process with even smaller numbers of votesDaniel Greenfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13575285186581875356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-14240393306944915642010-09-06T12:28:06.710-04:002010-09-06T12:28:06.710-04:00Anyone concerned about the cultivation of an elect...Anyone concerned about the cultivation of an electorate must confront the "two party system" and its grip on US government. There is a sure way to free the public from any attempts to engineer a public who can only vote for this political block: Get rid of the primary election system. Make it a federal crime to collect party membership for purposes of voter registration. Return the process of nominating candidates for office to the "two" political parties and all the rest. Here in California, you may register "decline to state", but that just points the way. It is none of the government's business what your political party is for purposes of voter registration and nobody in government has any business using the government to keep track of this information.Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13265154565691102783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-90442626376624171842010-09-06T11:02:18.476-04:002010-09-06T11:02:18.476-04:00"Traditionally the people were dependent on t..."Traditionally the people were dependent on the government. The American Experiment reversed the locus of control by making the government dependent on the people instead." <br /><br />America was the first country to place government under moral law. You notice that our current government seeks to be outside moral law. Whatever we know works to live, they do the opposite. To maintain their position, they must increase compulsion and get ever farther from that which serves human life. It is forced into its own demise by this fact of nature which it cannot, as we are seeing, violate with impunity.Principlexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15976696315627239104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-33950075764871594362010-09-06T10:39:55.977-04:002010-09-06T10:39:55.977-04:00I tend to avoid using capitalism, I prefer to use ...I tend to avoid using capitalism, I prefer to use free enterprise. Capitalism often makes a virtue of monopolies. That said the progressive solutions of Roosevelt led us to where we are today. So it's important to maintain a balance in a non-ideal world between one set of powers and another.Daniel Greenfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13575285186581875356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-34999878448243558062010-09-06T10:26:25.320-04:002010-09-06T10:26:25.320-04:00Not just Soviets, either. How 'bout Cubans?
h...Not just Soviets, either. How 'bout Cubans?<br />http://bokertov.typepad.com/btb/2008/10/beware-charisma.htmlYaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-86203012712012683402010-09-06T09:18:25.377-04:002010-09-06T09:18:25.377-04:00"Meritocracy works when the system has object..."Meritocracy works when the system has objective laws that provide equality for all." And that works by setting up conditions for fair competition which is the only available mechanism right now for merit to be the deciding factor.<br /><br />But capitalism has seeds of its own destruction in it. It is the enlargement process, the coalescing of small businesses into large corporations, the cartelization and monopolization of markets which prevent the fair competition.<br /><br />So, capitalism is not the value in itself, it is not a totem, but only has value as long as it serves its purpose of setting the stage for fair competition making meritocracy possible.<br /><br />The state capitalism with large corporations controlling the markets, is no different from the state socialism with monopolistic state ministries (industrial conglomerates) controlling production of goods. Both are antithetic to free markets, to fair competition of producers of goods, and fair competition of ideas - the backbone of democracy. <br /><br />Large corporations which engage in cartelization and monopolization of markets must be broken for the free competition to be preserved, as the only guarantor of democracy - the society of Freedom and rule of Law.Will48https://www.blogger.com/profile/03914073856925390211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-12601555027471134912010-09-05T23:40:02.265-04:002010-09-05T23:40:02.265-04:00Soviet refugees really do know. They should be lis...Soviet refugees really do know. They should be listened to on these things. They understand that socialism is a serfdom.Chana @ Lemon Lime Moonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11656854855385193867noreply@blogger.com