Politics Unfiltered

[Warlord]

(07-24-2014 05:44 AM)Decagon Wrote:  

(07-24-2014 12:46 AM)Warlord Wrote:  Well, let me respond to that. I don't want to put words in your mouth, so if my inferences are wrong feel free to correct me.

You think the minimum wage should be raised, not for the good of society, but for your own good. You make more than minimum wage now, mind you. So I guess you want minimum wage raised just in case the economy tanks and you get laid off and have to take a crap job. You aren't necessarily concerned about whether or not your fellow man makes good.

Raising the minimum wage is good for the economy. There's so little difference between being on welfare and working for minimum wage that people don't have the incentive to work for minimum wage. In cities, states and nations where the minimum wage has increased, employment has actually gone up.

(07-24-2014 12:46 AM)Warlord Wrote:  You want free, quality healthcare. Again, not for the good of humanity, but for the simple fact that when you get ill, you want to get treated cheaply and efficiently. Whether or not your fellow man benefits from this is immaterial.

There's no such thing as free health care. But nations with socialized medicine spend less money on healthcare, have a higher cancer survival rate, have lower child mortality levels and have a higher life expectancy. There are basically two arguments against socialized medicine. One goes, "that's what the COMMIES like," which is a guilt-by-association fallacy, and the other goes, "but the insurance companies that have charged us too much and underinsured us might go out of business," and I don't really give a shit if insurance companies go out of business.

(07-24-2014 12:46 AM)Warlord Wrote:  Again, correct me if you feel differently and I am talking out of my ass here, but that seems incredibly selfish to me. I don't know how anyone could support socialism for those reasons, and shit on capitalism at the same time. At least with capitalism no one is hiding their true intentions behind veiled pleasantries.

Capitalism is the belief that the nastiest of human beings have our best interest at heart.

(07-24-2014 12:46 AM)Warlord Wrote:  If you support socialism because you think man helping man is the right thing to do, I can respect that. I won't necessarily agree with it, but I will respect it. And I would politely ask anyone who believes in helping the needy out of love, empathy, or justice to re-examine their spirituality, or lack thereof.

It's not just the right thing to do, it's better for the economy, and better for life in general.

(07-24-2014 12:46 AM)Warlord Wrote:  If you support socialism because you think it will best serve your own personal needs, I can respect that too. But at that point I would recommend capitalism one more time. It much more effectively serves the man who wishes to better himself to the best of his ability.

Socialism more represents what we understand of human nature. Humans are social creatures, herd creatures. Capitalism is based on 18th-century thoughts on human nature, which have evolved since then.

(07-24-2014 12:46 AM)Warlord Wrote:  After all, you can't look out for number one when the group is there to redistribute your wealth anytime you get too far ahead. At least with capitalism your ability to keep what you earn is much greater, which also means your ability to care for yourself just increased.

That is fallacious thinking. Socialism includes unionization, the ability to organize. When you're able to organize with your fellow worker, you're able to earn more money, which means your ability to care for yourself just increased.

I get what you're saying, bro, but at the end of the day, it's up to every man to take care of himself, in my opinion. No government or man-made institution can ever be relied upon to work towards the betterment of society as a whole. Humans just aren't engineered that way.

History has proven in most cases, if not all, that the more power that is put into the hands of the state, the more corrupt it has become. Whereas, comparatively speaking, the more power put into the hands of the common man, the better off society as a whole is.

If you really believe man should work towards the betterment of his fellow man, then those ideals must come from society/culture itself, not in the form of dictated policy handed down by a nanny state.