Saffire

That'll teach those healthy young kids to not pay for my healthcare!!! Now get off my lawn! I have a pre-existing condition and a 'tude!

Nick, I was watching "Power Lunch" today on CNBC and they had a guest on for most of the show (forgot his name) who was totally butterflies and roses about the economy. It was astounding. He said inflation wouldn't happen for another few years, and there's nothing to worry about there. And he said the recovery is already beginning, and it'll be slow. And he said the risk of a "double dip" recession is practically nil, because he "doesn't see anything that would spur a second downturn". Keynesianism is to economics what interpretive dance is to art.

But the US has never lost a war!

I saw that, I wish they hadn't done it. They took a perfectly good song and ruined it by putting an Obama period at the end of it.

colduser, humans are a social species by nature. We don't need a central, coercive body to force us to make friends and carry on good relations with one another. Indeed, government is what drives people apart. It's what one group leverages to take away the rights/money of another group. The tendency to assume that anarchy would lead to pillaging and violence is a result of backwards-thinking with regard to the direction of civilization's development. Human civilization has become less and less brutal with time, accelerating at an astounding rate. People understand that minorities should have rights, even though in a democracy they can technically take them away (and often do). Children grow up not noticing race. These advances in the general maturity & enlightenment of the population are not a gift from the government. They are self-evident natural law, that an advanced capitalist (trading) society stumbles upon as it develops. More often than not, it is man-made laws that end up being the biggest impediment to society's progress.

GazeboflossUK, I have no disrespect at all for people who believe alternative views of historical events, especially if they differ from the government-approved versions. As far as I'm concerned, unless I was present during the event and had full understanding of the situation, I can't claim to know all the facts. I also want you to understand that I'm not calling you an anarchist in a negative way - I'm an anarchist, and so is Josh. I respect your views without dismissing them outright, so I'd hope you will do the same for mine. Anarchism isn't chaos/insanity/a disrespect for law/authority. Not at all. It's just an awareness that "governance" is not what governments do. They loot, murder, and lie. Anarchists also don't claim that anarchy would be a panacea for solving all problems - we understand human nature isnt' perfect. We just think market-based (read: profit driven) security agencies are a superior method of ensuring safety than giving a monopoly of violence to one corporation (the government). Socialism doesn't work in the delivery of any goods/services, not even the services government claims it is absolutely necessary for.

Hans Hoppe wrote an excellent book, called "Democracy: The God that Failed" in which he explains why the presidency is like a monarch that "rents" the nation for a period of time. Because he doesn't own the capital-producing mechanisms (like a King would), he has no incentive to have a long-term time horizon when making policy. As a result, Democracy is the ultimate way to create a society of degenerates. ~ Less productive activity as a result of shifting laws. What is legal today, might not be legal tomorrow. ~ Lower self-reliance, with the rise of a dependent, parasitic class. ~Lower future-orientation, due to inflation and disincentives to put off consumption (read: save money) The very problems democratic wealth-redistribution is meant to heal are exacerbated by it. Decivilization, infantilization, and demoralization are the future of every western democracy.

America's future is one filled with obese people who make sure to wash their hands so they don't get sick. Then they fill out a form to receive a government subsidy. Exciting!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1211504/The-image-dying-U-S-soldier-sparked-furious-debate-Afghan-war-divided-America.html He was 21 years old, probably over there to help pay for his college education (with printed money) so he could get a decent job. The government's solution to an ant-bite is to go roll around in the anthill for 8+ years.

*stares down Josh* Are you sure you want to try that?

Hey! Teacher! Leave those kids alone!

Limbaugh can be hilarious (with his over-the-top ego) and frightening. Republicans are funny in general, because they absolutely HATE government bureaucrats, but when you give the bureaucrat a gun and a badge suddenly they adore them and put yellow ribbons on their cars and admonish people to never question their intentions. So my new theory is that Republicans just enjoy violence. But Democrats claim to hate violence, and then ignore the implicit violence of their socialist regimes. They have really powerful blinders on.

Watch what happens in 30 years: all these children of chavs will grow up to be literary geniuses who compose works rivaling Joyce and Dickens, and implement biological theories that bring about the cure of the most common cancers. I feel it in my bones!

I don't like his support for war and nationalism, but generally I think his brand of political vitriol is healthier than the garbage that comes from most pundits. Most networks pride themselves on making politics look like a sort of science, attracting intelligent and calm thinkers. This is bullshit. Politics has always been an irrational, violent, and stupid sport. Hence why it takes a clown to tell us about it!

Why is he an utter cretin? Explain.

I'm more afraid of a large spider than I am of a gun. And I'm a dude. But if I kill a spider, I get this sense of satisfaction followed by a temporary feeling of guilt because I just murdered a conscious creature that was only going about its business... pass the Jim Beam, dammit. *sob*

Gazebo, watch the short video linked in my signature. It's an introduction to the foundation of a theory for a voluntary society (anarcho-capitalism). If you like it, I can link you to the works of a few prominent economists who wrote on the feasibility of a society sans government.

The inevitable result of socialism. It's happening in America, too, we're just a little behind. My high school class had more than twice as many college-bound graduates as my sister's does, and she's just 6 years younger than I am.

Obama finally took over the internet! I WAS WRONG, IT'S GREAT! :awesome:

You'd get private lessons with Megan Fox as your biology teacher. No Obama speeches to interrupt you, either.

You make great points, it really should be up to the parents to make sure their kids get a good education. But the key thing here is to notice that Obama is basically begging these kids to do better in school, rather than changing the way public schools are managed. The whole purpose of a public school is to provide jobs to teachers. Not to educate children. In a competitive environment, where all schools were private (and there are no taxes collected for education purposes), there would be incredible competition between schools to enroll children. They would tout the experience of their teachers, their curriculum, their cheap costs, their liberal contracts... Because information is basically free, the market for education (the efficient delivery of information to a child's mind) would be fascinatingly creative. You'd see all sorts of new types of schools and organizations that would guarantee children a job upon graduation.

Just build stronger seats! I want my bus driver to be laying there like Jabba the Hut with a bucket of frogs next to him.

I've read "The Prince" enough to know how to run a State like a well-oiled machine. Who can tax the sunshine? I can, damnit.

Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are both lunatic statists (Beck less so), but I have to admit I enjoy listening to them sometimes because they can be very funny when they're being critical of government in general. And Beck's insane humor is the sort of thing that actually makes me laugh. Jon Stewart's "Look how sarcastic and ironic I can be" humor just bores me.

Josh, Obama will reinforce the fact he's the "father of the nation" and it'll hit children later on what bullshit politics is. It might not have an immediate effect but it'll happen. Kids always have this "Road to Damascus" moment when they realize their parents aren't perfect people, and it's no different with authority figures. The only reason Obama should ever talk directly to his subjects is during a state of emergency. All leaders know this, but Obama has been particularly bad at comprehending it - you need to limit your public exposure to reinforce your superiority. It's the "Wizard of Oz" effect.