The fastest path to socialism
Thursday, July 31, 20082 comment(s) | Default | Large
Have no doubt about it: Health and environmental scares have robbed this generation of the age of prosperity and freedom that was their birthright, for which their forefathers fought and died.
The continual shift of labor and resources from the economically productive sector to the regulatory system and compensation culture has cost all of us billions of dollars. The tobacco settlement and the massive amount of money it generated for anti-smokers is a perfect example.
The propaganda it has paid for and the friends it as bought are now rolling over smokers nationwide, and many are cheering. It is teaching everyone else how the socialist game is played. All you need is a new set of victims (the next group in line to lose it all).
How was it all done?
It is true that countless studies have shown passive smoking to be harmful, but that is where the money is. Gone are the days when the dispassionate scientific debate to find truth was normal, now the dog with the best connections and biggest teeth wins. The media picks the winners, and you are told facts and truth through their biased filter from whatever source they will allow. Who and what determines truth has been hijacked since the mid ‘80s on tobacco-related issues.
The almost $1-billion-a-year anti-smoking industry has many who dance to the anti-smoking music because it pays well and offers many returns — grants for research on smoking-related topics that never seem to end. Could this be the reason cancer has never been beaten? Because lots of money is lost to politicized prevention games. (We all need cures.) All you have to do is claim harm for rivers of money to come flowing your way.
There are many reasons for population control in general, and most of them are morality based. You do not go around killing and beating up others or destroying property. The police enforce God’s law of common decency and good citizenship. Public health on the other had has the power to enforce the discovered rules of science inquiry on the population, without the checks and balances of the court system that criminals have automatically. Are the claims of public health valid? A better question to ask is, “Are they ever challenged?” Do media and political hype equal fact? If you as a smoker have your public rights taken away, will the government pay to defend you against your accuser?
It is time to turn an ugly stare back at those who claim harms and provide information about it and say “OK, put up real world evidence of harms, such as death certificates and medical records of any who have died from exposure to passive smoking. If you cannot do this, then get lost. You deserve no one’s time or obedience.” The sad truth is no one in government or the media has ever demanded real-world evidence to justify action. Statistics or hearsay have always been enough.
Taking away the rights of smokers and the rights of business people who cater to them without real-world evidence of harm is a criminal act of government in a free country.
The definition of socialism is where the elite dictate what you may have and may do, based on truth as THEY define it. The truth is freedom is disappearing in America. What are the good people of this nation going to do about it? Will the freedom to fight back be taken away by the time most are ready to?
— Dave Pickrell, President and founder, Smokers Fighting Discrimination Inc., P.O. Box 5472 Katy, Texas 77491
mjkaster@windstream.net wrote on Aug 7, 2008 11:41 AM:
FDR's Social Security System, is, as the name implies socialism - and it's a bad thing too. People should be taught to prepare for old age themselves, and not look to the government to do it "by force."
Sure, some of those European countries look like they have some nice benefits, but take a look at their tax structure and government oversight...it is "government in your face" at every turn.
No, thank you very much. I'll take the system our Founders gave us 232 years ago that emphasized self-sufficiency and personal responsibility. And no, I'm not a Libertarian.
Max J. Kaster, Pastor
St. Matthews, SC "
superfluousm wrote on Aug 1, 2008 8:26 AM:
It's communism, fascism and totalitarianism that we have to be on guard for, not socialism. Socialism isn't the evil monster it's made out to be, as evidenced by Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. All their citizens are covered by public medical care and they have across the board better medical outcomes than we do. Life span, child survival rates and on and on and on.
One of my favorite writers, Joe Bageant at joebageant.com is an avowed socialist. I'd suggest you read his work.
Capitalist economies are necessary to some extent, but socialism does a better job in quite a few areas of providing citizens with better services.
If you're totally against socialism, I'd suggest that when you start getting your social security check that you send it back to the government. That would prove you're against it and not only talk the talk but also walk the walk.
As far as smokers go, you do make a point. But don't point at socialism as the problem. The problem is that the nation has turned away from Libertarianism, or true freedom. That has nothing at all to do with socialism.
I agree with you that if a restaurant owner wants to allow smokers in his business, he should be allowed to do so. But let's call that Libertarianism and not demonize socialism, which plays no part in this problem. "