The Conservatives Thread

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Not to get off the subject at hand, but...
Where in the old Soviet Union were you from? I ask, because my Dad's people way back when were Black Sea Germans, originally from Southwest Germany. That is, they had been invited by the Czarist government to settle in the Russian Empire's empty places, such as the Volga region, and, for my forebears, in the Black Sea region; in particular, the Crimean Peninsula. They had immigrated to the United States in the 1860s, after the Russian crown went back on their promises to the Russian Germans of political autonomy, freedom to speak German, and freedom from taxation, followed by the threat to let loose pogroms on them. Good thing they did leave, because those who didn't ended up sent to die in Siberian gulags many years later by Stalin during the second world war.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

Moldova.

My paternal family as well. We came a little later, finally arriving in Canada around 1905. Its off topic, so lets start a separate thread? I know there are a few Volga Germans around here.

Moldova, a place where free market reforms have succeeded admirably in enslaving women for the white slave trade...

Conservatism does not work. Events move too quickly. The plutocracy consolidates itself and strikes with lightning-fast speed.

As for complaints about the Great Leader, what about that conservative model of a company Wal-Mart. They know all about that sort of thing there.

It's disturbing to see the cult of the rich - worship the corporations and rich as providers of all, we depend on them and must pay tribute to their leaders, they are like jealous gods who smite those who fail to pay the proper tribute. "Atlas Shrugged" is their wet dream of the gods striking down the "ungrateful".

U.S. conservatives have more in common with Soviet communists than they'd like to admit. Soviet communists were supply-siders and didn't believe in spoiling the people with consumer goods. U.S. conservatives can't imagine that anything good can come out of demand side policies because that spoils undeserving people. All the money should be put into the business, not into people's wallets so they can buy things that improve quality of life!

Hush now! You're not supposed to reveal the similarities between us conservatives and Soviet communists. Well, it is a point of view that a good water-boarding would be able to fix.

So, Moldovan prostitutes, hmmm...

Doesn't sound so bad, if it weren't so damned sinful.

If only the Almighty had not fixed His canon against prostitution. Or, did He?

Even before President Obama started all of these projects, it was very common to see roads repaved that absolutely didn't need repaving. Roads half built, then torn up the following year to be rebuilt. And, roads in other areas that are completely falling apart. Well-connected government contractors are making tons of money off of this.

If the roads were simply turned over to private firms, then the firms could find some means of billing people who wished to use the roads, and then use the money to keep the roads in optimum repair. Competition between owners of alternate routes could keep the fees down to something reasonable.

If the actual cost of maintaining the roads were actually borne by the people who used them (instead of the present government-run socialized system), then there would undoubtedly be more opportunities for more efficient private mass-transit projects. As it is now, people who live in suburbs feel a profound sense of entitlement to roads on which to drive their gas-guzzling behemoths (their gasoline also being subsidized by the government).

The road and transportation system in the USA simply represents the failure of socialism.

Good idea. So good that I just formed the fuzzy road building company. We ask the reasonable fee of 1,000,000 dollars for each road you wish to link into our superior transportation system. So far we have made 3 high grade ring roads around your city at radial spacings of 1 mile. As part of deregulation we have purchased from the government, all the artery roads leaving the city. We were lucky to be ready in the right place at the right time.

We expect of course that everyone will use our fine roads and we offer a generous buy out package of 1 dollar per mile to road companies which do not want to pay our million dollar link up fee. Competition can be friendly. We dont have to flatly refuse to do business with our competitors. We would never force them to shell out or sell out.

We plan to recuperate our costs with toll booths at the intersection of the ring roads, priced modestly so that we can recover our costs in 10 years, long before repaving is required. Not that it is required, as there is no regulation. But we care about your community and plan to repave often.

Well, sounds like you have a firm grasp of conservative economics. Maximize profit, no matter what.

At least this way, the costs of building and maintaining roads will never again be paid by the government.

I'm just curious, what do fellow Conservatives think about Rand Paul ?

Well, his name alone certainly evokes all that is Godly.

The most fundamental tenet of American capitalism is that you gouge wherever you can, whenever you can, and as deeply as you can.

Look, for example, at hospitals. People who enter the hospital and who have no health insurance are billed ten times more than the insurance companies of people with insurance coverage for the same specific ailment. Does anyone fault the hospital administrators for this practice? Does any care about the sick people who face bankruptcy? Hell No! The exclusive golf club memberships cost a lot of money, as do the luxury automobiles. Hospital administrators deserve all of the money that they can get.

Look, for example, at the cost of inkjet cartridges. If you buy a printer, and you want to use it, then you have to buy the manufacturer's replacement cartridges. Does anyone fault the CEO of Lexmark for charging at least 100 times the cost of producing the ink cartridge? Hell No! The private corporate jets and Caribbean islands are expensive. CEOs absolutely deserve all of the money that they can appropriate to themselves.

Does anyone fault the CEO of Philip Morris for selling highly addictive products that disable and kill people? Once again, Hell No!

So, where exactly do you come off labeling Bernie Madoff, who is the veritable poster child of American capitalism, as a "crook" and a "defrauder?"

The second fundamental tenet of American capitalism is: "NEVER give a sucker an even break!"

All of the examples above are clearly consistent with this sublime tenet. Bernie Madoff did absolutely nothing wrong. At the very least, he should be released from prison and have his fortune restored to him. Maybe, in the future, "investors" will be a little more careful about trusting him with their money. If anyone lost any money, then that was their own damned fault for being gullible.

Similarly for people who lose all of their savings to a hospital--that is their own damned fault for getting sick and not having an insurance policy that covers the specific illness. "Aw, boo hoo!" Are we supposed to cry for these people, too?

Capitalism and conservatism isn't the same so stop trying to group the two together! Before you post examples I can provide the biggest example: Starbucks. They ooze tree-hugging progressivism, but they're still a capitalistic corporation.

Yes! Excellent! They can persuade people to pay an hour's wages for a cup of coffee!! ! Brilliant!

By the way, capitalism and conservatism go together hand-in-hand.

Similarly, liberals, socialists, and communists all march together in lock step.

You cannot be a conservative without also espousing capitalist belief systems.

I notice you are based in Singapore. Most of the posters in this thread seem to be based in the US. I am based in Britain. The current chairperson of the British "Conservative" Party is a woman of Pakistani Muslim descent called Sayeeda Warsi. I'm going to take a wild guess and suggest that she probably has little problem with foreign immigration into Britain, especially immigration of the Pakistani Muslim variety. Perhaps she would even support it as a way of "conserving" supposed British values (such as tolerance, tolerance and tolerance).

Anyway, my point is that conservatism will mean different things to different people.

Ah, Singapore. The epitome of Conservatism. American Conservatives could learn a lot from emulating Singapore.