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jrjones9933
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25 Jul 2017, 1:15 pm

I can't shake the feeling that you somehow consider me a Republican, DMK.


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DarthMetaKnight
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25 Jul 2017, 1:23 pm

jrjones9933 wrote:
I can't shake the feeling that you somehow consider me a Republican, DMK.

Nope. I never even thought about it.
You tell me what you are.


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jrjones9933
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25 Jul 2017, 2:23 pm

I try to be pragmatic about what government can and cannot do. This puts me at odds with a lot of people on both conventional sides of the political spectrum. People on the right want to stop government from doing things it does well, and people on the left want government to do a lot of things that it does badly.

Similarly, I like to spend my vote as efficiently as possible. Since Republicans have moved to completely eschew facts, I've voted Democrat to keep them at bay. I typically support the most logically oriented progressive in the primaries, since I'd rather take back the Democratic party than try to build a new one. I'm open to that, though.

Basically, my posts here represent my politics, and I would probably bristle at oversimplifying them. Like Treebeard, I am not entirely on anyone's side, because no one is entirely on my side.


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25 Jul 2017, 2:30 pm

jrjones9933 wrote:
People on the right want to stop government from doing things it does well, and people on the left want government to do a lot of things that it does badly.

Explain


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jrjones9933
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25 Jul 2017, 2:42 pm

DarthMetaKnight wrote:
jrjones9933 wrote:
People on the right want to stop government from doing things it does well, and people on the left want government to do a lot of things that it does badly.

Explain

It would take a course in game theory, and I need to review that material myself. ;-)

I know the guy who invented public choice theory is widely hated, with good reason. His twisted application and his brilliant insight seem separable. Institutions operate in their own self-interest. However, we have a lot more knowledge about the complicated ways self-interest operates due to behavioral economics, and homo economicus is dead, except in the minds of some businesspeople and pundits. After that, it gets really mathy, and would take a few semesters to build up the foundation to explain. If you have that background, you can easily do your own research.

We need to understand our incentive structure better in order to have efficient government. The EPA had lots of problems, but generally has given everyone except the poorest people (money + political power) clean water and air. It should be improved, not destroyed. On the other hand, price controls never work, unless your country produces the commodity in question. Taxes create a very complex set of incentives, which very few political arguments consider through the lens of modern economic science.

Thanks for asking. I feel kind of crappy today, and I have a lot to do, or I'd type more.


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DarthMetaKnight
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25 Jul 2017, 3:25 pm


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25 Jul 2017, 5:10 pm



"PPL on the internet have triggered me! DELET THIS!"
- Trumpster Dumpster

Image


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cberg
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25 Jul 2017, 5:13 pm

Ok so here goes nothing :| :jester: :roll: :heart:


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25 Jul 2017, 5:19 pm

Fact: Republicans don't actually care about fossil fuel industry workers.


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25 Jul 2017, 5:55 pm

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA


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25 Jul 2017, 8:38 pm

DarthMetaKnight wrote:
Remember when Republicans accused Barack Obama of creating a child army?

Its' official. Any Republican who accuses someone else of "indoctrinating children" is a massive hypocrite.


This is typical. Republicans are made up of a a large number of ignorant and xenophobic supporters who subscribe to these sought of conspiracy theories which feed into their prejudice.

Lets not forget your president publicly believed Obama was born in Kenya without bothering to check his facts. Something he does a lot off...

DarthMetaKnight wrote:
Fact: Republicans don't actually care about fossil fuel industry workers.


The more educated republicans who know this is all "bulldust" are simply too selfish to worry about the welfare of poorer folks. What Karl Marx referred to (rather accurately) as petit bourgeois or more broadly social climbers



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25 Jul 2017, 8:43 pm

two competing memes- "every man for himself, the devil take the hindmost" - or "we're all in this thing together" - the former is winning, and in his 1979 "Malaise" speech, President Jimmy Carter predicted what we are experiencing today here in the land of the unfree, home of the wage slave:
"We are at a turning point in our history. There are two paths to choose. One is the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. That path would be one of constant conflict between narrow interests ending in chaos and immobility. It is a certain route to failure."



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25 Jul 2017, 8:48 pm

auntblabby wrote:
two competing memes- "every man for himself, the devil take the hindmost" - or "we're all in this thing together" - the former is winning, and in his 1979 "Malaise" speech, President Jimmy Carter predicted what we are experiencing today here in the land of the unfree, home of the wage slave:
"We are at a turning point in our history. There are two paths to choose. One is the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. That path would be one of constant conflict between narrow interests ending in chaos and immobility. It is a certain route to failure."


I think Gandhi used the litmus test of how we treat our animals as a guide for how civilised/advanced our collective societies have come. Given the gap between the richest and poorest in western society (perhaps with the exception of the Scandinavian countries) is fast getting wider and people seem to be "encouraged" to become more self-absorbed, it doesn't bode well at least in the short term



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25 Jul 2017, 8:51 pm

cyberdad wrote:
auntblabby wrote:
two competing memes- "every man for himself, the devil take the hindmost" - or "we're all in this thing together" - the former is winning, and in his 1979 "Malaise" speech, President Jimmy Carter predicted what we are experiencing today here in the land of the unfree, home of the wage slave:
"We are at a turning point in our history. There are two paths to choose. One is the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. That path would be one of constant conflict between narrow interests ending in chaos and immobility. It is a certain route to failure."


I think Gandhi used the litmus test of how we treat our animals as a guide for how civilised/advanced our collective societies have come. Given the gap between the richest and poorest in western society (perhaps with the exception of the Scandinavian countries) is fast getting wider and people seem to be "encouraged" to become more self-absorbed, it doesn't bode well at least in the short term

I can see the end of the worse as we know it, from where I stand. things are gonna get lots worse before they stop getting worse.



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25 Jul 2017, 8:54 pm

auntblabby wrote:
cyberdad wrote:
auntblabby wrote:
two competing memes- "every man for himself, the devil take the hindmost" - or "we're all in this thing together" - the former is winning, and in his 1979 "Malaise" speech, President Jimmy Carter predicted what we are experiencing today here in the land of the unfree, home of the wage slave:
"We are at a turning point in our history. There are two paths to choose. One is the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. That path would be one of constant conflict between narrow interests ending in chaos and immobility. It is a certain route to failure."


I think Gandhi used the litmus test of how we treat our animals as a guide for how civilised/advanced our collective societies have come. Given the gap between the richest and poorest in western society (perhaps with the exception of the Scandinavian countries) is fast getting wider and people seem to be "encouraged" to become more self-absorbed, it doesn't bode well at least in the short term

I can see the end of the worse as we know it, from where I stand. things are gonna get lots worse before they stop getting worse.

If we can't treat our fellow countrymen as equals then we have a long way to go to be compassionate to refugees and animals (although some people treat their dogs better than their neighbors)



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25 Jul 2017, 8:56 pm

cyberdad wrote:
auntblabby wrote:
cyberdad wrote:
auntblabby wrote:
two competing memes- "every man for himself, the devil take the hindmost" - or "we're all in this thing together" - the former is winning, and in his 1979 "Malaise" speech, President Jimmy Carter predicted what we are experiencing today here in the land of the unfree, home of the wage slave:
"We are at a turning point in our history. There are two paths to choose. One is the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. That path would be one of constant conflict between narrow interests ending in chaos and immobility. It is a certain route to failure."


I think Gandhi used the litmus test of how we treat our animals as a guide for how civilised/advanced our collective societies have come. Given the gap between the richest and poorest in western society (perhaps with the exception of the Scandinavian countries) is fast getting wider and people seem to be "encouraged" to become more self-absorbed, it doesn't bode well at least in the short term

I can see the end of the worse as we know it, from where I stand. things are gonna get lots worse before they stop getting worse.

If we can't treat our fellow countrymen as equals then we have a long way to go to be compassionate to refugees and animals (although some people treat their dogs better than their neighbors)

it has been my experience that some people treat their animals better than their own family members! :o