I went to the communist…I mean, the California Teacher’s Association conference this past weekend. I had a blast and got to hang out with some fun people. I just laugh at the mob mentality of the whole thing. I actually felt ill witnessing all of the anti-Bush stuff everywhere. They make it seem like every single thing that’s wrong with the world is Bush’s fault, never mind their Democratic congress, or even the Senate. No, it’s just Bush. It’s such narrow thinking that I wonder if most of them look at the facts at all.
I’m also amazed by the shift towards Communist thinking. We need universal health care, universal retirement plans, universal…everything. It just frightens me to see how poorly the government spends the taxes I currently give. I can’t imagine what would happen if we gave them more.
Another thing that irritated me was the never-ending complaining about teachers’ rights. These people are all looking quite nice… which only makes me assume that they are able to pay their bills. What more do they want? Is there ever a point where the teacher’s union would stop and say, Oh, we have everything we need now. We’re happy!
No. There’s something in humans that makes us desire to be the underdog. Even to the point that we specifically look for things to complain about. Is there ever a point where we are happy? Where we’re just satisfied with what we have? Where, while we seek an ideal in life, we are still content and thankful for all of our blessings?
I also got a card that listed all of the union endorsed people that I should vote for this year. How dumb do they think I am that I would just blindly vote for the people handed to me on a list? Does anyone actually do that? Is it any shock that every single person on that card was a Democrat? (Well, of course they had to be Democrats, because it’s common knowledge that Republicans are against education. Right? I still remember the bill by the Republicans where they wanted to burn down all of the public schools and just throw kids in a giant pit until they turned 18. It’s a shame that one didn’t go through.)
I could rant for hours more about stuff that irritates me when it comes to unions and certain political advocate groups. The prevailent thinking in those groups is so shallow or misinformed. I think I may have persuaded a few others that Republcans aren’t a bunch of idiots though, so I think it was a successful weekend.
Steph Lewis's Blog
Why is it that the same thing you describe could be said of certain other groups in support of a completely different political party?
Why does politics have to be so brainless, so black and white, when it’s clearly not?
Why are “brainless” and “black and white” equated?
The extent of moral grey a person sees in any situation is the minimum of the extent of their ignorance. We’re all going to be ignorant about some stuff, maybe even most stuff, but proclaiming it’s grey doesn’t solve the issue. It’s just like proclaiming, “I have no idea!” It’s the first step, but you have to move beyond it.
I agree that a brochure stating where people stand on issues is more valuable than one that just says ‘vote for x’, even if the detailed brochure also suggests who to vote for.
Steph, I’m a little confused about something else and thought you could help. Why is universal health care communist? (Or, as you state, “a shift toward communist thinking”?) I’m not sure how best to understand what we mean when we say “communist.” Does universal health care push us dangerously down the road toward giving up our democratic freedoms? Is that how it moves us toward communism? Or is it an example of a state-run institution that is (for that reason) doomed to failure? If it is doomed because run by the government, is that what makes it communist?
I guess what I am interested in is, What makes a government venture “communist”? For example, the government does many things now (such as Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, the Armed Services, the CIA and FBI, public schools, Head Start, AmeriCorps, Amtrak, and the Postal Service). Are some of these communist? Perhaps there is a principle that we could use to identify which government services are appropriate for a republic and which are not.
I always appreciate your thoughts on these issues, and was hoping that you could help answer a question that has been in the back of my mind for a while, that your post re-raised.
I think the main difference comes in regarding how much control the government has over your money. On one side, the government could have no taxes, leaving people to make their own decisions with their money. That would mean that people would need to organize their own fundraisers, etc. to get things like roads and parks, which would be made through private companies (instead of a goverment crew). On the other hand, the government could take all of our money and make all decisions for us…where we live, what we have, where we go, what we participate in. A communist mindset is usually more along the lines with the government having more control over our money and what we do.
I guess I think the government should try to tax as little money as possible. Then, leave it to people to determine their own financial and local community decisions. When I think of a capitalist company, they must stick to a budget, be prompt and friendly with their customers, offer great service, compete with other companies — and if they don’t do these things they go out of business. Governement run monopolies are usally slow, require a ton of irritating paperwork & fees, not always the friendliest, and have a set budget (so they often will spend more than what they absolutely need because the money is set in the budget). They don’t fear going out of business and therefore can get apathetic to public needs and upgrades.
I think that people should keep most of their money and make their own choices with how it is spent, rather than the government. If people are dumb and squander their money on crap instead of health care…that’s their poor choice and they have consequences for that.
I don’t want to get started on all of the what ifs that relate to this. Of course there are children who have no health care because of their parents poor spending, or people who don’t have enough money for health care and all that. I do believe that the government should be there as a safety net and to provide a leg-up for people. But I think that taxing the crap out of everybody to get mediocre programs is not a wise choice.
Okay, Tim, so I went off on a bit more than your question posed, but I think you can get the gist of what I mean. Communism=lots of government control over money (taxes) and actions of people (like where they can/cannot receive health care and to what extent) and Capitalism wants people to have money so they can make their own decisions (even if they make bad ones and have to deal with consequences). That’s simplifying it, but that’s what I meant by Communism when I made this post.
This is mostly unrelated, but partially germane to one of the posts. Since the early 1980s, the U.S. Postal Service has operated without any tax dollars. It is a very capitalist business that operates solely on the revenue generated by the sale of stamps and stamp-related products. So unlike something like universal health care, if you don’t want to support the USPS, you just don’t use it.
Not trying to take a side, just offering an aside.