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Originally posted by links234
That was one of the most moronic things I've read since the first time I read it a couple years ago.
"We didn't have this tax 100 years ago."
...we didn't have a LOT of things 100 years ago.
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, & our nation was the most prosperous in the world.
We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
Originally posted by Holly N.R.A.
GhostLancer...absolutely brilliant...you beat me to it....removing the politicians is only the first step....the bankers and those that they control would have to be systematically taken care of as well.
The columnist that wrote the original piece...awesome for his piece and he got the ball rolling...but in order to take care of this country and start over....we need to have a plan in place first...it would be self defeating cut off one arm of an octopus when all the arms are involved.
On a lighter side...enjoyed the Dr. Seuss meter...in fact...Dr. Seuss wrote similar diatribes against the "Axis" in WWII.
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, & our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
Originally posted by NoHierarchy
There is plenty of blame to be passed around, and for the most part, the machine of our civilization is headless and its momentum virtually unstoppable. You can blame Congress all you want... but the reality is that it's not such a simple moral problem, we cannot simply vote the right people in. The system is a filter, and no matter what or who you put into the system, its filter will only allow a narrow band of results to slip through. The government, corporations, Communism, Capitalism, the economy, and even our Democracies... rely upon the same invisible root structures. These root structures are made up of hierarchy.
It's easy to question and rail against Congresspeople (and many of them deserve it to varying degrees)... but does anybody ever ask the REAL question?
WHY DO WE ACCEPT A SYSTEM WHERE THE MANY ARE CONTROLLED BY THE FEW?
This goes for both governance and economics. We accept, rationalize, and tolerate a system where the very FEW can rule over (whether with a soft or hard touch) the many; where another very FEW can amass most of the wealth, land, and means of production and use the rest of us as servants/slaves (whether with or without tasty treats/incentives). We have been born into an INSANE system that seems to be clamoring along just fine but is actually barreling off a cliff. Most of us ignorantly behave as if this is the way things are meant to be, that this is the only way, that it's logical and acceptable. The reality is, we could be living in a virtually INFINITE manner of ways... and we can always change how we live if a large enough portion of the population were so inclined. We are in chains, whether we know it or not, the planet's ecosystems and species are in chains, whether they know it or not (and they are being destroyed by our civilization's directionless whims).
Our footprints of governments, businesses/economies, consumption/destruction, and our species in general is TOO BIG TO CONTROL. No matter who you put at the helm, things are going to get f***ed up. If you put a hybrid of the Mother Theresa and Albert Einstein themselves in charge of the planet, even they, despite any amount of intelligence, wisdom, and/or compassion, would cause unnecessary suffering/destruction/oppression. The problem is NOT the people, the problem is THE SYSTEM. We are insane because we continue to call for tweaks and reforms to a system that will produce the same general results over and over regardless. It's time to embrace more ecologically/economically/socially/psychologically sustainable localized and diverse communities which are less hierarchical and more horizontal. It's time to start experimenting with radically different ways of living on this planet that increase our freedom, purpose, fulfillment, and positive balance with each other and the biosphere.
"What people (aside from rulers) don't like about hierarchal societies is that they don't exist for all their members in the same way. They provide a life of unbelievable luxury and ease for the rulers and a life of poverty and toil for everyone else. The way rulers benefit from the success of the society is vastly different from the way the masses benefit, and the pyramids and the temples testify to the importance of the rulers, not to the masses who build them. And so it goes, through every phase of life in a hierarchal society." - Daniel Quinn, Beyond Civilization
"Every one of your systems is a utopian system. Democracy would be heaven--if people would just be better than people have ever been. Of course, Soviet Communism was supposed to have been heaven too--if people had just been better than people have ever been. Your justice system would work perfectly if people would just be better than people have ever been. And of course your schools would work perfectly under the same conditions." - Daniel Quinn, My Ishmael