Fennec wrote:1.) I have an unfavorable view of governments, so I'd prefer less intervention. I generally don't like being told what I can and can't do. Overall, I have no real firm unchangeable opinion on capitalism as an economic system, It's certainly not something I've studied extensively.
Is your unfavorable view of governments based on any particular principle or reason?
I ask as you say, essentially, that you could take or leave capitalism. But your later answers speak to a certain belief in it, and there has never been anything close to capitalism while a government isn't in place.
Capitalism/Socialism (my definition)
Socialism - The government owns the means of production, with the goal of making everyone equal financially. For the good of the group over the individual. Economic collectivism. (Punishing successful people.)
Capitalism - Private or corporate ownership of production. For the good of the individual over the good of the group. Economic Individualism.
Not badly done. I mostly wanted to see how you threaded that needle. But, in light of the first issue, I'd point out that capitalism has always had a government. And socialism, just for clarification's sake, is regarded by socialists not as, "the government" but direct rule of the people that constitute the government. It was, after all, hardly in the interests of international socialism for the FBI and CIA to be created by a capitalist government.
James Connolly wrote:Therefore, we repeat, state ownership and control is not necessarily Socialism – if it were, then the Army, the Navy, the Police, the Judges, the Gaolers, the Informers, and the Hangmen, all would all be Socialist functionaries, as they are State officials – but the ownership by the State of all the land and materials for labour, combined with the co-operative control by the workers of such land and materials, would be Socialism.
Schemes of state and municipal ownership, if unaccompanied by this co-operative principle, are but schemes for the perfectioning of the mechanism of capitalist government-schemes to make the capitalist regime respectable and efficient for the purposes of the capitalist
2.) Why did feudal people act differently than contemporary people? Not knowledgeable here. No real position. Would need to look this up.
I would encourage you to think about this. The way that things change is important.
I know someone well that I grew up with that has the most conservative policies imaginable, though he himself is an old lefty because he thinks that humanity needs to evolve into a place where we can function without a lot of controls, but we aren't there yet. His view of the progression of humankind is the most important part of his policy. For him, feudalism would have slowly evolved into a more efficient system with a lot of the same controls and ability for human social evolution.
For a more typical liberal, the nobility had been stifling thought for long enough that the Enlightenment, a result of printing presses, information, and the discovery of the New World, meant new opportunities. These were rationally thought out, and groups of people put out a series of policies that eventually made feudalism redundant.
The reason a lot of conservatives tend to cling to Christianity is the same reason; things are supposed to be a certain way as God has set them that way, and guiding from His plan is necessarily evil. For them, the collapse of feudalism was a result of the Protestant Reformation, where Jesus reconnected with a German monk against a Church that strayed from His word, and what followed was the construction of a society based upon the Reformation, guided by Christ's hand.
For a socialist, the transition from feudalism to capitalism was a result of the contradictions within feudalism becoming too great and eventually coming to a series of revolutions in which a relatively newly empowered class, the bourgeoisie, was able to overthrow the aristocracy.
All of these political philosophies have a way to explain the way things are and that helps guide how they are going to view policies now and in the future.
Collect as much as possible. Reward the talented hard working innovators\entrepreneurs of society. Those who sit on their ass and contribute nothing should get nothing. The latter sounds like communism. Yuck.
I find this interesting and a little at odds with some of the previous statements you made. Do you like the concept of Mercentalism?
4.) From my perspective I have freedom of the press. It's called YouTube, Vimeo, Minds.com and various other platforms. Alternative news is growing, MSM is dying. The only difference is that I adhere to the guidelines of these platforms.
Surely you recognize that this is not the same as the power that NBC (or Fox, or the NYT, or whoever) has.
Does this power to put yourself onto YouTube, within the guidelines of Google's terms and conditions, actually equal that of one of those media outlets; or is the theory behind the right enough; or do you not have the same rights?
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