joepistole

quit laughing already

I answerd your question on "So Now That We Understand...."

India is not a capitalist country. Furthermore, you are right that we need restraints........but these are simple restraints: don't kill, don't steal. What do they have to do with capitalism? I never said you ought to be able to murder others, anyway.

Numbers and statistics are important in observation and understanding but they do not replace principal or liberties or anything else. The Germany that you referenced trampled all over individual liberties and little things like principal. And that is not a step I am willing to take. I am a veteran and a patriot.

If you think laissez-fare works well, I sugget you visit places like India. Capitalism is a great tool for production. But in the end it is only a tool. And it must be used like any other tool, with skill and grace it can build many wonderful things. But used incorrectly or abusively it can be a devistating tool of destruction and chaos.

I have been and remain a student of business and finance. I have degrees in same and I make my living as a businessman. Despite all of the laisssez-fare nostalgia there were and are many issues with liassez-fare. And that is why there are few if any laissez-fare advocates on the world stage today.

As for principal and values, I think I am principaled to the core. That is one of my major beefs with the modern Republican Party. When the shrubs took over the Republican Party, little things like morals and values became things to pay lip service too instead of living.

I will agree with you that liberty is important. But as long as we live together there must be limits or boundaries that constrain personal liberties...else my liberties might interfere or intrude on yours. Each of us cannot have absolute liberty do as we wish, there must be constraints that allow us to get a long with each other and not live in chaos.

If you really only value numbers and statistics, and don't care much for principle and liberty, then why stop at the Democrats? Fascism sounds like your best friend. Fascist-corporatist policies brought Germany ought of depression, cut the unemployment rate to damn near zero, helped Germany re-arm, and helped to regulate the economy better. See? Fascism-Corporatism works, too. Why aren't you advocating that?

I see that you said that the Libertarian party's "policy on economy is way out of science and discourse"...I'm thoroughly offended by this. First of all, principle is more important than anything else, and liberty is more important than statistics. So, even if that were true, liberty is still the most important, and capitalism is the only liberty.

But secondly, laissez-faire works and works well. You're free and people are left to their own devices to solve their own problems. Do you know what has no basis in science and rational discourse? Socialism.

I have been called worse :)

I think you're probably a Blue Dog democrat, if you do say you're a conservative. They're a coalition of moderate to conservative Democrats; at least they're there! :)

Hi Sandy, I see you are back :) Good to hear from you again. I hope all is going well.

Hi. :)

Not really.

For being a 'pragmatist' you seem oddly to the left.

I am practical and I think balanced. The extremes just do not work wither on the left or on the right. I am not married to an idealogy. I am married to what works. So instead of calling me a conservative, you can call me a pragmatist.

The extremes of both sides are loosing propositions. I am all for personal liberty, but personal liberty is restrained by my personal obligations to society as a citizen of this country. Citizenship is an obligation I take seriously.

For being a 'conservative' you seem to be oddly to the left.

My answer was too long to post here. So I sent you an mail message.

Ron Paul is pro free market, not corporatism. How are his policies "not applicable to the modern world"? He is for laissez faire capitalism. We have seen that government interference distorts and destroys the market.

Obama is for more spending and regulation. THAT is what is incompatible and illogical.

I am sure Ron Paul does have the best interests of the nation at heart. However, he does not have a good understanding of economics or the lessons learned over the course of the last two centuries. His economic beliefs, while pleasing to a minimalist, are just not applicable to the modern world in which we live.

If he and his movement should ever attain power they would hearld in a serious economic depression. There is just too much evidence against Ron Paul's economic positions. Ron Paul would still not fix the most serious problem facing the nation and that is corruption, the buying of legislation that limits consumer choice in favor of special interests. You can only beat and abuse the middle classes so much before you kill the middle class. And it is the middle class that made America. By giving so much power to special interests we are going back to the days of the robber barons.

Then go Ron Paul! Honest, and has the best interests of the nation at heart. He's also got brains, unlike the others.

Indeed you can, and unforutnately there are not too many who are very honest these days including Senator McCain...a man for which I used to have a lot of respect. Today he was complaining about the denial of lieberman's request for extra time yesterday - stating that it was unprecidented. The only trouble is that a few years ago, Senator McCain did the same thing to Democrat Senator Byrd.