Comments on But, I am a Liberal!: Zany Third Parties, Part 3!

my response:ah, i do love liberals! i get, when i ...

2007-12-30T06:00:00.000-06:00

my response:

ah, i do love liberals! i get, when i look under your veneer of cynicism, that you basically like my platform. yep, my resume, while all true, is embarrassing in its bulk. it just tells you i'm a do-er, that i know how to get things done. i agree that most of my platform is now politically impossible, although relatively simple to do. it is important to ask why this is so. the first step to make what we want possible is to remove deadening cynicism. that is what my campaign is all about. cynicism isn't really skeptism, critical, or realistic. it just sucks hope and possibilties out of any situation.

define "welfare," please.

In Freedom,
Frank Moore

Hector, thanks for posting. I personally lost inte...

2007-10-24T23:02:00.000-05:00

Hector, thanks for posting. I personally lost interest in any type of socialism a long time ago. I personally think that even in a nation where the policies are popular, the system is inherently anti-liberal, and is inherently un democratic because it forces its citizens to work for the state in essence. It does not advocate for the right of the individual, and it was for this very reason that I have a hard time supporting groups that are socialistic in their nature.

I look at it like this: taxes are funds we provide by basically “working” for the state or government. If you must pay 30% of your earnings to the government that means 30% of your time is spent working for someone else. Many of us would not put it this way, but it is forced labor pressed upon every individual regardless if they agree with its ends or not. It is that very reason that I personally don’t feel socialism in any form is democratic.

New Centrist: I actually don’t know much about the...

2007-10-24T17:19:00.000-05:00

New Centrist: I actually don’t know much about the intellectual property the SWP has control of. That is definitely something I will look into. I assumed that they had the rights to publish something lucrative or had a wealthy donor to keep them afloat.

And you are right, the British SWP and American SWP are not affiliated, and actually belong to separate international ideological foundations. I put them together in this piece to designate that they both have been major advocates for Trotskyism in their respected counties.

I also use the term “socialism” when refereeing to...

2007-10-24T17:17:00.000-05:00

I also use the term “socialism” when refereeing to communist groups simply because they also use the term socialism to designate their position. The “Socialist Workers Party” does not have a great deal in common with left democrats, but since they advocate a socialist policy, they get to also use the term in my opinion.

Clearly, there are varying degrees of socialists, just as there are varying degrees of liberal.

I know they run mayoral candidates in SF. I met on...

2007-10-24T13:58:00.000-05:00

I know they run mayoral candidates in SF. I met one in Cuba back in the day.

Do you know anything about the relationship between Malcolm X and the SWP? The publishing arm of the SWP (Pathfinder Press) has the rights to all of that old Malcolm X material like “By Any Means Necessary,” “Malcolm X Speaks” and “Malcolm X: The Last Speeches”? They are still making decent money from those titles in addition to the Che Guevara books.

I think the SWP in the UK is affiliated with the International Socialist Organization or ISO. That’s the loons behind ANSWER.

The SWP in the U.S. is not affiliated with the ISO. They are actually rival loony left sects.

Hector writes:

“Doesn't it bother you that America is a two-party dictatorship”

You clearly have not spent much (if any) time in a dictatorship.

Andre asks:

“Is it just me or has the word "socialism" become a euphemism for the word "communism"”

Generally speaking in the US, yes. We lack the social democratic parties of Europe and most people use the two words interchangeably. When you discuss these matters with people who are more concerned/educated about politics and political systems in other countries, they understand the difference. But for most of the U.S. socialism = communism.

Personally speaking, I use the term socialism as a...

2007-10-24T08:30:00.000-05:00

Personally speaking, I use the term socialism as an umbrella term to group together groups such as communist, social democrat, communitarian anarchist…if I need to get more specific in a certain situation, then I do.

I’d rather have income obtained from green taxes t...

2007-10-24T03:26:00.000-05:00

I’d rather have income obtained from green taxes to be channeled towards green projects, and say income obtained from cigarette duties to be channeled towards health projects – but it's very complicated to let every person have a say on where there tax goes. And I agree with points four and five – except maybe that tobacco should be sold by prescription!

Is it just me or has the word "socialism" become a euphemism for the word "communism"

Fine. There are some weird third party candidates,...

2007-10-23T13:12:00.000-05:00

Fine. There are some weird third party candidates, but what other choices are there. Doesn't it bother you that America is a two-party dicatorship and that people outside of these parties rarely are given proper platform to voice their ideas and opinions? Ralph Nader would make a great President: Green Party member with socialist ideals and concerned with consumer advocacy. Sounds good to me.

I agree with your criticism of the SWP, in any country; they are highly unorganized and unfocused. But what's wrong with socialist ideals penetrating American public policy? You don't agree with universal healthcare, better schools with less disparity between poorer and richer neighborhoods, social security, welfare programs, unemployment programs, workers' compensation, financial aid for college students, and employee empowerment movements?

Socialism (not communism) promotes democracy by allowing people to reside on similiar playing fields. I don't think everybody should make the same money, and I don't think governments should interfere with big business, so long as business doesn't hurt the general welfare. (If I had to label myself, I would say I'm a social capitalist.) But I do think people shouldn' be so materialistic and should be more charitable; whether governments should force societies to adopt these ideals is another story, however I don't agree with that either.

My favorite Presidential candidate is Michael the ...

2007-10-23T11:40:00.000-05:00

My favorite Presidential candidate is Michael the Archangel. You can find his profile at politics1.com on their GOP section. He claims to be the brother of Jesus and is running to promote his book or something. Quite amusing.

The GOP is basically running their 1998 playbook on Clinton. People didn't care then, and they don't care now. Unless she has a Dean moment, they might as well give her the tiara now.

Jams: the only difference between the American SWP...

2007-10-23T07:51:00.000-05:00

Jams: the only difference between the American SWP and the UK is that the American version has absolutely no electoral power and support.

But based on the developments at Harry’s Place concerning RESPECT, it doesn’t seem like the British SWP has that either!

For a long time the British SWP (which as every on...

2007-10-23T04:47:00.000-05:00

For a long time the British SWP (which as every one knows stands for Student W*nkers Party!) believed that there was no parliamentary road to socialism but they have been heavily involved in RESPECT which gave that worm Galloway a new home and seat after he was thrown out of the Labour Party. If the US version are much the same you'd be far better voting for a Monster Raving Loony candidate!