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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (196465)	8/2/2004 1:05:27 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1580672

However, the prime reason is because I see us in this mess together and therefore feel I have some control over how the mess is handled. I sense with people who worry about socialism that they fear losing control over their money and their lives. Well, there's definitely that fear, of course. To me, however, the reason why I'll tend to err on the side of capitalism is because of the unique individualistic culture within America. There is great diversity here, almost to the point where many fear the problems associated with it. But I think the strength that this nation demonstrates through its diversity is because of its freedoms. That's why so many people of so many cultures come here, because that's exactly what they seek. That diversity is a strength but it also is a weakness for the very thing you see as a positive......a unique individualistic culture. That rugged individualism was desired even appropriate when this country was new and developing but now its becoming a hindrance. To me, socialism requires a lot of conformity in thinking, which is why it works better in European nations whose populations within each nation isn't as diverse. It involves people sacrificing some control over their money and the lives for the common good, along with a direct accountability that I think isn't very practical for America. You'll disagree, but I do think some freedom is indeed sacrificed in a socialism, and given that the intentions of the populace are good, that limits the good they can accomplish together. I don't see it so much as conformity but a willingness to work together for the common good. And yes, unfortunately, its easier to do that when there is less diversity although the European nations have become fairly diverse in the past two decades. Of course, if the populate is bad, that also limits the damage they can do, and as you know, society is some mix of the two. I'm an optimist (seems like that's a political buzzword these days), so I usually trust that people can collectively do more with freedom than with a government-imposed system. I would say that Russia, ironically, is probably the only major country in the world that currently is more capitalistic than we are, and I definitely do not like what unbridled capitalism has done for them.......when checks are not placed on capitalism, it seems a country tends to get raped. But I understand your viewpoint, that the two need not be mutually exclusive. After all, we don't live in a true capitalism in the most severely technical sense of the word. If we did, for instance, all of our roads would be toll roads, and all of our schools would be private. Personally, I think a blending with greater emphasis on capitalism is the ideal. ted