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

To: HPilot who wrote (465951)	3/24/2009 10:52:44 AM
From: bentway	Respond to of 1573709

"These were never part of industry, and cannot be managed industry, and so cannot be anything but funded by the goverment." Blackwater and other such outfits prove this statement wrong. Mercenaries have been available and used throughout history.

To: HPilot who wrote (465951)	3/26/2009 7:17:50 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 1573709

In an important sense I'd have to agree with him. The military fits the general definition of socialist. At least if you consider them the means of production (of security and military power and victories etc.), rather than "the means of destruction". OTOH if the government doesn't own the means to produce any good or service, then there basically is no government. 0% socialism, defined as owning (or perhaps even owning or controlling), no means to produce anything, in the broadest sense of that idea, would be anarchy. But people don't usually use the broadest sense of the idea. The military, courts, police, etc. aren't considered socialism by many. It wouldn't be hard to go around in semantic circles on this one, but because no one here is arguing that we shouldn't have a government owned/run military, court system, police, etc.; so perhaps it would be better not to bother with the issue of whether they are socialist or not, and focus on the actual proposals that people are making either people here, or political decision makers.