by mr e » Fri Dec 16, 2005 8:22 am
although his imperious tone does not help his case at all. Nevertheless, let's try to divorce the actual facts and logic from the tone and style in which they are stated. The man has some points which it would behoove all to heed. But then, so does Jeff, and so does Rothbardian! How can this be? Because they're all right. <br><br>Socialism is a bad system. In certain forms, it has been responsible for horrific genocides. <br><br>But then, so has capitalism. <br><br><br>Both capitalists and socialists can marshal facts and lob them back and forth at one another. What each side misses is that they are both talking inside the box of statism. When Mr. Redford thinks socialism, he is thinking <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>state</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> socialism; it's the only kind he's ever known. When the lefties on this board think capitalism, they think <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>state</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> capitalism, since that's the only type that's been tried in recent times. Plenty of rotten things could be said about each system. What' s the common denominator between them? The state. After all, who does most of the war and genociding? States, that's who. Socialist states under "dictatorships of the proletariat." Capitalist states "protecting our national interest." <br><br>Without the tool of the centralized state as known today (and I have no exact definition of "state," but I do know that government begins to become really malignant when it gets beyond the local level), the worst crimes of humanity could have never happened. <br><br>But what about the multinational corporations! comes a cry from the Left. Well, okay. The corporation, which many on the Right believe is a "private" institution of the "free market," is nothing of the sort. It is a creature of the state, which makes it part of the state. It is awarded state privileges that no actual living human person or regular group of persons enjoys.<br><br>Long chicken-and-egg arguments could ensue over which entity has "corrupted" which. Consider that perhaps both are inherently corrupt by their nature. What are both the state and the corporation? They are groups of men exercising power and privileges over others. More to the point, one could say they are symbiotic systems of privilege enshrined by "laws" and customs to which we assent by our belief and obedience. <br><br>And another sacred cow to many self-styled "free marketeers," and hardly discerned by most socialists, is the system of legalized counterfeiting called banking. If you really want to attack modern capitalism, this is the first place to attack, even before you hit the corporation. Any market economy needs a medium of exchange -- money or currency. This system, in essence, is a sophisticated system of sorcery in which a small class of men are awarded the monopoly franchise on creating out of thin air the necessary medium of exchange needed in any economy (called "money," but it's not money any more -- it's credit). Then they "rent" it out to everyone else via public or private lending. How is it "free-market" when the very medium of exchange, without which nobody can play the game, must be rented from a monopoly cartel at the price it dictates? <br><br>Former bank president <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://EdwardF.Mrkvicka">Edward F. Mrkvicka</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> wrote in a letter to the Chicago Sun-Times several years ago that the Federal Reserve system is a "tool of totalitarianism." But since the FR is really a cartel of member banks, and all banking the world over works under pretty much the same rules (with some technical modifications in the Islamic world), then the whole world is under a totalitarian monetary system. In fact, international bankdom could be characterized as the preeminent sovereign power in existence on earth today, since all governments bend to its will, and furthermore, it has usurped a power traditionally exercised by the government and/or the people themselves. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>When you literally make the money, you can dictate as you wish.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> "Permit me to coin a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws," is the famous quote from the infamous M.A. Rothschild. (And no ... that's not "code" for anything, for you ADL operatives who seem to hang out here. Rothschild means Rothschild -- nothing more or less.) <br><br>I could go on and on and on, and it's very late and I'm losing my focus. But I hope I have at least begun to make the point that all these systems are hopelessly intertwined. If one should be abolished, so should the other. (In fact, the ways in which capitalism has covertly served as the engine of "socialist" revolutions and regimes would probably astound Mr. Redford.) <br><br>The State, generally, is bad news. It is the jack-booted thugs. It is the weapon of mass destruction. It is the vehicle of monopoly power. I don't need or want any such entity "taking care of" me. (When the government starts talking about "taking care of" you -- RUN.) <br><br>But the State (beyond entrenched bureaucrats and their fiefdoms) is really only the servant of the private Corporate/Money Power Elites behind the scenes anyway. <br><br>With either system, you're screwed. <br><br>mr e <p></p><i></i>
