Is Socialism Inherently Flawed?
Posted on 13. Nov, 2009 by Cameron in politics
Another criticism I have of Michael Moore’s “Capitalism” is that nowhere in the film did he discuss the alternatives to capitalism. There is one very short segment that discusses the attitudes of Americans about socialism in the lead up to the 2008 election, but there was no detail on what socialism is.
This morning I read this rant about the evils of socialism on “American Thinker” which claims:
“…the Achilles heel of collectivist dogma: for a planned economy to succeed, there must be central planners, who by necessity will insist on universal commitment to their plan.How do you attain total commitment to a goal from a free people? Well, you don’t. Some percentage will always disagree, even if only for the sake of being contrary or out of a desire to be left alone. When considering a program as comprehensive as a government-planned economy, there are undoubtedly countless points of contention, such as how we will choose the planners, how we will order our priorities when assigning them importance within the plan, how we will allocate resources when competing interests have legitimate claims, who will make these decisions, and perhaps more pertinent to our discussion, how those decisions will be enforced. A rift forming on even one of these issues is enough to bring the gears of this progressive endeavor grinding to a halt. This fatal flaw in the collectivist design cannot be reengineered. It is an error so critical that the entire ideology must be scrapped.”
This guy obviously doesn’t realize that capitalism also requires a “total commitment to a goal from a free people”. We have laws in a capitalist society, just as they do in a socialist society. We even have laws (a LOT of them) that dictate how we operate economically. For example – try setting up a bank in your town without getting a banking licence from some government authority. Watch how long you last.
If the so-called “Achilles heel” or “fatal flaw” of socialism is that they have laws then capitalism has the same fatal flaw.
We have “central planners” in capitalist countries as well. They are called “government departments”.
This kind of stupid argument demonstrates how blinded many Americans are by the ideological programming they have been receiving for the last century.
The World’s Smallest Political Quiz
Posted on 12. Aug, 2009 by Cameron in politics
According to the quiz, I’m a Centrist. What are you?
GDay World Live 001
Posted on 12. Mar, 2009 by Cameron Reilly in Atheism, capitalism, Christianity, free will, geopolitics, israel, politics
I did my first (well, first in a long, long time) GDay World Live show on uStream tonight and it was a lot of fun! Thanks to everyone who joined in. I talked for an hour and forty minutes! WTF!?
I talked about:
- Free Will
- Why Christianity Is Dangerous
- Why Capitalism Is Broken
- The Israel – Palestine Conflict
You can watch the whole thing below or download it in FLV format.
G’Day World #350 – Richard Moore
Posted on 06. Oct, 2008 by Cameron Reilly in Podcast, politics, social activism
My guest on show #350 is American author (who now lives in Ireland) Richard J Moore, author of “Escaping The Matrix“. I was introduced to Richard’s work recently via an article he wrote about Russia, Georgia and South Ossetia.
Richard tells me that the kind of government we have in the USA, UK and Australia isn’t really democracy – and he suggests a way forward to creating the world’s first true participatory democracies.
Here’s a list of sites where you can read Richard’s writing and subscribe to his regular news alerts.
Richard’s “newslog” Google Group
http://cyberjournal.org
http://www.governourselves.org/
http://escapingthematrix.org/
http://www.wakingthephoenix.org/
If you want an independent media, you can support TPN by throwing me some cash to cover the bills or, if you’re tight on the cash front, by blogging or Twittering about the show or joining the G’Day World Facebook group. There is a list of things you can do to support the show here.
The G’Day World theme music:
Conquest
“Secrets of Life” (mp3)
from “End of Days”
(Dark Star Records)
