Fedora
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Brilliant Jsoft. You have been indoctrinated very well, and from the looks of it, the hypnosis was a success! Just kidding, although to listen to you reminds me of fairy tales where the main character lives happily ever after. First off, I never said I did not like our current President. I voted for him, along with the other Republicans. I was not out to attack him in any way. My rant was just a stream of consciousness thing, free form, with some exagerration that is part and parcel of my personality. Some are not so generous in their accessment..
If American society guaranteed success for the "little man", through hard work, sound decisions, honesty, and all the rest, this would indeed be a utopia for the working man. And that is certainly something noble for a society to strive for. My point was really about how the lawmakers and their cohorts, are intent on letting corporations who used to employ my neighbors, leave the country and take advantage of cheap labor in foreign lands. I don't buy into this at all. Let me share a true story that took place right here last year. And this story is not something that just happened in my home town, but it is happening in thousands of home towns all over this land. We had a huge factory here in town that employed hundreds of folks. It has been here since I was just a lad, and was one of only a few factories in this southern town. I personally knew one of the engineers that worked at this factory. They are no longer here. My friend spent the most of this year in Mexico, working with the company, opening up a modern factory there, and even hiring some of the new employess. He told me they were paying these folks 6 dollars a day, with no insurance, no 401 k, just 30 dollars a week. The American that was doing this same job was making 12 bucks an hours, with insurance and a 401k plan. Of course, the electric motors that this factory made for the automotive industry are sold back here to GM. Yeah, you might be able to save 50 bucks on that car the mexican motor went in, but you could not afford it if you were the one who lost the job to cheap labor. You see, I see this in much the same way as my maternal grandfathers occupation years ago before I was born. He was a sharecropper. You know anything about sharecropping? Sharecropping was nothing more than white slavery, with a sugar coating. The only one who made a decent living was the landowner, while his sharecroppers lived in poverty, and literally sweated blood. This was just a continuance of the age old thing of taking advantage of your neighbors in order to gain wealth. To make it to the top often involves trampling on many people. Now, to me, one purpose of goverment is to try and maintain a fair playing field. And, it is obvious to me that the rules of the game are all written by one team, the corporation, with paid help from the legislative branch. You know the old saw, "what is good for general motors is good for the country". We seem to live by that axiom today. My point of view is that any action that takes good paying jobs away from Americans is not good for the country. A real simple point of view, but it can be made really complex by quick wits with economic theories, who muddy the waters enough to cloud common sense vision. And they are very good at it. People buy into it, until they are the ones who lose their jobs. I can remember how poor it was here in the rural south in the 50's. I can also recall how the standard of living seemingly changed over night with the addition of factories in the south, making goods from raw materials and adding real value to the GNP. What happens when those factories leave the country? And whose fault is it? Who allowed it to happen? Not me. Are the democrats responsible, or the republicans? Both? Look in your house and see how many things are made here. Everything that you buy that is foreign made took jobs away from your neighbors. We don't think of it in those terms. So, I am mad at the democrats and the republicans. I am not so naive as to think either party has all the answers, or that there is something noble about either party. Truth is, they are driven men, driven by greed, the worse greed of all, the greed for power and influence. Not all mind you, but most. They are quite at home with the corporate execs, they share much in common. Camelot it is not. No knights of the round table, with chivalry emaneating from their souls. But, that is the way that it is, and like family secrets, it is better left unsaid. If the lights are turned on, the vermin run. Dark rooms suit this sort much better.
I am a down home type of guy. If it were left up to me, I would take care of this country first, as I would much rather spend the tax dollars on American citizens than to send it over seas. I am not taking about giving folks that are too lazy to work a free handout. I certainly would not continue subsidizing the subculture of single parent homes by welfare payments to unwed moms. They are rewarded for having many kids out of wedlock. The more you have, the more money you get, that is, as long as you remain unmarried. That farce I will lay at the democrats feet.
On the drug issue. Being an old Anthropology student, I am aware of accepted drug use in many different cultures. There have been many cultures where the use of mind altering substances has been part of the society, and I got bad news for ya. Those societies did not self destruct from accepting it, and using it. We have our own accepted drug. Alcohol. It is one of the most dangerous drugs available. It is also legal. Criminalizing it in the 20's was a big mistake. I find it amusing that when we refer to mind altering substances, we say, drugs and alcohol. In reality, we should say, just drugs. See, separating alcohol from drugs serves a purpose. Drugs are bad, alcohol is ok. I am not advocating drug use. But, to send folks to prison, for something they ingest is insanity. If you don't own your self, what do you own? Is my body goverment property? To have power over your fellow man, to the point of sending him away for doing something to himself, is nothing more than tyranny. Dress it up, and call it what you want, but in the end, it is tyranny. No one should have the right to do so. Yet we accept it full throttle, no questions asked. And yes, by making drugs a jailable offense, you drive up the prices astronomically, and with the high profits, there is always someone to step up to the plate to take the place of the dealer sent to prison. The profit is seemingly worth the risk. By criminalizing drugs you strengthen organized crime. You help the cartels. There is one indisputable fact. You can never stop folks who want a chemical pleasure from doing so. You can wage all the wars you want. You can squander billions of dollars. You may as well outlaw sex. Seriously. The war on drugs will never be won, because you can not, try as you might, change human nature. It is lunacy. It is as obvious as the nose on your face. I do not understand how in the world this can not be seen by the legislatures. The fact is, they do see it, but will not admit that they can't win a war. Ignor-ance. They choose to ignore. There will always be a certain percentage of the population that will use chemicals for the pleasure it gives. Sending some of these to prison only makes matters worse. So, I say, make everything legal, but make sure everyone knows the dangers involved, and that you very well could lose your life in this unhealthy pursuit of pleasure. It won't happen in my lifetime. It won't happen because there is too much money to be made by too many people that have the power to make and enforce laws. If you tax it, those dollars won't end up in their pockets. Well, I am tired and it is bedtime. I enjoy talking about all of this and welcome comments and opinions. regards, Fedora
If American society guaranteed success for the "little man", through hard work, sound decisions, honesty, and all the rest, this would indeed be a utopia for the working man. And that is certainly something noble for a society to strive for. My point was really about how the lawmakers and their cohorts, are intent on letting corporations who used to employ my neighbors, leave the country and take advantage of cheap labor in foreign lands. I don't buy into this at all. Let me share a true story that took place right here last year. And this story is not something that just happened in my home town, but it is happening in thousands of home towns all over this land. We had a huge factory here in town that employed hundreds of folks. It has been here since I was just a lad, and was one of only a few factories in this southern town. I personally knew one of the engineers that worked at this factory. They are no longer here. My friend spent the most of this year in Mexico, working with the company, opening up a modern factory there, and even hiring some of the new employess. He told me they were paying these folks 6 dollars a day, with no insurance, no 401 k, just 30 dollars a week. The American that was doing this same job was making 12 bucks an hours, with insurance and a 401k plan. Of course, the electric motors that this factory made for the automotive industry are sold back here to GM. Yeah, you might be able to save 50 bucks on that car the mexican motor went in, but you could not afford it if you were the one who lost the job to cheap labor. You see, I see this in much the same way as my maternal grandfathers occupation years ago before I was born. He was a sharecropper. You know anything about sharecropping? Sharecropping was nothing more than white slavery, with a sugar coating. The only one who made a decent living was the landowner, while his sharecroppers lived in poverty, and literally sweated blood. This was just a continuance of the age old thing of taking advantage of your neighbors in order to gain wealth. To make it to the top often involves trampling on many people. Now, to me, one purpose of goverment is to try and maintain a fair playing field. And, it is obvious to me that the rules of the game are all written by one team, the corporation, with paid help from the legislative branch. You know the old saw, "what is good for general motors is good for the country". We seem to live by that axiom today. My point of view is that any action that takes good paying jobs away from Americans is not good for the country. A real simple point of view, but it can be made really complex by quick wits with economic theories, who muddy the waters enough to cloud common sense vision. And they are very good at it. People buy into it, until they are the ones who lose their jobs. I can remember how poor it was here in the rural south in the 50's. I can also recall how the standard of living seemingly changed over night with the addition of factories in the south, making goods from raw materials and adding real value to the GNP. What happens when those factories leave the country? And whose fault is it? Who allowed it to happen? Not me. Are the democrats responsible, or the republicans? Both? Look in your house and see how many things are made here. Everything that you buy that is foreign made took jobs away from your neighbors. We don't think of it in those terms. So, I am mad at the democrats and the republicans. I am not so naive as to think either party has all the answers, or that there is something noble about either party. Truth is, they are driven men, driven by greed, the worse greed of all, the greed for power and influence. Not all mind you, but most. They are quite at home with the corporate execs, they share much in common. Camelot it is not. No knights of the round table, with chivalry emaneating from their souls. But, that is the way that it is, and like family secrets, it is better left unsaid. If the lights are turned on, the vermin run. Dark rooms suit this sort much better. I am a down home type of guy. If it were left up to me, I would take care of this country first, as I would much rather spend the tax dollars on American citizens than to send it over seas. I am not taking about giving folks that are too lazy to work a free handout. I certainly would not continue subsidizing the subculture of single parent homes by welfare payments to unwed moms. They are rewarded for having many kids out of wedlock. The more you have, the more money you get, that is, as long as you remain unmarried. That farce I will lay at the democrats feet.
On the drug issue. Being an old Anthropology student, I am aware of accepted drug use in many different cultures. There have been many cultures where the use of mind altering substances has been part of the society, and I got bad news for ya. Those societies did not self destruct from accepting it, and using it. We have our own accepted drug. Alcohol. It is one of the most dangerous drugs available. It is also legal. Criminalizing it in the 20's was a big mistake. I find it amusing that when we refer to mind altering substances, we say, drugs and alcohol. In reality, we should say, just drugs. See, separating alcohol from drugs serves a purpose. Drugs are bad, alcohol is ok. I am not advocating drug use. But, to send folks to prison, for something they ingest is insanity. If you don't own your self, what do you own? Is my body goverment property? To have power over your fellow man, to the point of sending him away for doing something to himself, is nothing more than tyranny. Dress it up, and call it what you want, but in the end, it is tyranny. No one should have the right to do so. Yet we accept it full throttle, no questions asked. And yes, by making drugs a jailable offense, you drive up the prices astronomically, and with the high profits, there is always someone to step up to the plate to take the place of the dealer sent to prison. The profit is seemingly worth the risk. By criminalizing drugs you strengthen organized crime. You help the cartels. There is one indisputable fact. You can never stop folks who want a chemical pleasure from doing so. You can wage all the wars you want. You can squander billions of dollars. You may as well outlaw sex. Seriously. The war on drugs will never be won, because you can not, try as you might, change human nature. It is lunacy. It is as obvious as the nose on your face. I do not understand how in the world this can not be seen by the legislatures. The fact is, they do see it, but will not admit that they can't win a war. Ignor-ance. They choose to ignore. There will always be a certain percentage of the population that will use chemicals for the pleasure it gives. Sending some of these to prison only makes matters worse. So, I say, make everything legal, but make sure everyone knows the dangers involved, and that you very well could lose your life in this unhealthy pursuit of pleasure. It won't happen in my lifetime. It won't happen because there is too much money to be made by too many people that have the power to make and enforce laws. If you tax it, those dollars won't end up in their pockets. Well, I am tired and it is bedtime. I enjoy talking about all of this and welcome comments and opinions. regards, Fedora
