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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (107938)	1/23/2012 4:26:32 PM
From: RetiredNow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

Forget about Obama. I define Crony Capitalism to be when government picks the winners and losers. Bush Junior did it when Cheney ordered the no-bid contracts for Haliburton in Iraq. Obama did it when he picked Solyndra for fast tracking due to his relationships with their CEOs. It's wrong regardless of who does it. The government's job is to set the rules and the private sector's job is to figure out whether they can make money in an industry based on how those rules are set. I don't like all the corporate influence over our government officials and I don't like how government officials encourage it. And no, I don't make exceptions when it is on my favorite topics either. I want renewable energy and energy independence, but I want to achieve it through private sector ingenuity. I think the government has a role in making sure coal and oil don't have unfair advantages, but I don't think you fix it by giving solar unfair advantages. Rather, I think you fix it by taking away the unfair advantages that coal and oil have. Either that or level the playing field by giving them all equal subsidies. But you don't do it by practicing crony capitalism and picking a company to shower tax payer money on. That is a corruption that is uncontrollable. If you want us to be more like Russia or Mexico, then sure, we can practice crony capitalism. But you won't find me voting for anyone who practices it. You know what I'm finding, Chinu? You and I and others on this thread have a fundamental disagreement going on that transcends any particular issue, whether it is the NDAA law or crony capitalism. Many on this thread, including yourself believe the ends justify the means. I do not. I believe you maintain your integrity by achieving the right things while DOING the right things. If you achieve your goals, but have lied, cheated, stolen, or hurt others to achieve it, then the goal is meaningless. I had a friend that would cheat non-stop when we played Monopoly as a child and he'd usually win. Well, what was the point of that? Is he the better man for it? It destroyed the fun of the game, which was the whole point...having fun. As Jesus said to his Disciples: "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" What he meant was that it's how you go about living your life that is important, not the goals that you've achieved. If we win the war on terror, but become no better than the terrorists, then we've lost our souls. If we achieve security, but lose our Freedoms, then we lost what makes us American. If we win energy independence, but have lost our free markets to crony capitalism, then we've lost the greater thing in achieving the lesser.