I don't know funk you forget we live in a world today that actions in a different country effect our economy just like we effect the worlds economy ourselves. We need to take a active role in the situation so that we are not screwed over, for lack of a better term. I also disgree with dumping the UN. Big mistake concidering like I said again we live in a very connected world now. Not just econmically but socially too. I could be wrong but those are just my thoughts.

 

I forgot my other policy - Reinstate Saddam.
He and Iraq deserve each other.

 

Mr Funked,

Boy, you're a cynical one, aren't you?

 

Pragmatic

 

I honestly don't mean any offense to anyone, but it's sometimes difficult to tell someone's analytical abilities, sense of humor, deep-rooted cynicism, emotional scars... over the internet. I figured that if I had just ONE thread that I could effectively moderate, maybe with some tact I could get folks to discuss an issue.

I was more or less experimenting, but I did learn something. Three of the more outspoken, opinionated political 'OT' posters' ideals don't vary too far from mine although you'd think that we were all very polar.

I have found that when I speak to someone who I presuming to be greatly different from me ideally, turns out that we usually end up arguing the same points. It usually takes some work, but after we genuinely try to understand what each other are REALLY saying, not necessarily what comes out of our mouth, we are saying the same things.

I'd assume that Unregistered would probably refer to himself as liberal; I'm a soldier (which I imagine in most people's minds connotates to conservative, but like many, many of my peers that's just not the truth.)

I can't stand free-loaders. I can't stand an overweight government that is so unwieldy that's it is unable to distinguish between free-loaders and the actual needy. I can't stand any programs that would propogate an increasing need for itself that it makes the problem worse. I can't stand inefficiency. I can't stand intolerance. I can't stand tyranny. I can't stand 'hiding behind' one's rights. I can't stand war, but I would quickly jump to supporting war if it really meant that it would eliminate tyranny. I can't stand hidden agendas.

Those are all things that I think a liberal and a conservative would agree with.

It's in the application where the difference must lie.

I don't consider myself a liberal nor a conservative; a democrat nor a republican, nor an progressive, nor an anarchist, nor a libertarian.

When you think about it, do any of those parties or ideologies truly/fully represent your own ideology? Personally, I'm not a socialist neither, but TO ME, the socialist model does seem as if it's the most caring political system. But it would never work in America (and not just because it scares up a dark shadow in most American's minds.)

For instance, it's pretty socialist to have a large welfare state where everyone makes diddly for wages but they don't have to pay for any of their basic needs. Realistically, there wouldn't be any dues you'd have to pay because that would be a police state where your freedoms would be severely reduced.

By dues, I mean that if you don't pull your share of work, YOU'd be penalized or even eliminated. That just don't seem right, does it? But that's the practical application of the model.

In your little microcosm, it seems as though it would work. That ******* who never does his share of the work and is always late and always insolent towards the boss should be eliminated, right? Well, when you think of that on a grander scale, like a nation, you'd need a large 'force' that was responsible for the elimination. Since they don't work with that guy, they'd need to be able to be influenced so that they could better determine who was actually a non-contributor. That opens the door for bribery and a syndicate.

I started rambling I gotta get back to work. MTF.

 

"I can't stand intolerance."


Me neither, I can't tolerate it. Wait...

 

Agree with what you've just said. I even agree that socialism seems a good system conceptually, but when you put normal human behavior in the model it breaks.

I think most of us want the same thing in general, such as equal opportunity to succeed, yet the different directions folks want to take to get there can derail us, especially in a world where goals are mutually exclusive.

anyway.. .whatever... =)

 

That's all I'm saying. There are a lot of 'ideas' flying around. Spewing out ideas is easy.

When you start applying probability based on experience and then start applying the likely conditions then it will usually assassinate most every great idea, unfortunately.

For instance, I seriously wish that we didn't have to be in Iraq...but we are. I believe that pulling out tomorrow, or pulling out no later than 2006 (according to Ted Kennedy) is not realistic until Mr Kennedy has thought this through. What are the effects of pulling out by 2006? I'm not saying that it isn't possible, I'm just saying that it's not realistic. Has he thought it through from every possible perspective? I seriously doubt it. He is just acting like every boss out there in just dictating a deadline.