“The very men who are most anxious to plan society [are] the most dangerous... and the most intolerant of the planning of others. From the saintly and single-minded idealist to the fanatic is often but a step.”
— Friedrich Hayek
@Amtrak@metsfan69420 I did and the employee merely told the rider to turn it down a bit. He proceeded to listen to his music out loud the entire trip while singing along.
Maybe because he literally just put an entirely unqualified political hatchet man in charge of the DNI — while we’re at war — and the only reason he could give was that he would look into the “stolen” election bullshit? He’s making hugely important decisions based on a lie. That seems worth paying attention to. He also tried to set up a compensation fund for people who, inspired by his promulgation of that lie, laid siege to the Capitol. Oh and the only legislation he cares about is all wrapped up in his delusions about how elections are stolen. I can keep coming up with reasons. But the fact that the president still thinks his lie should drive policy and personnel (several J6ers work in the administration) that makes it relevant, imho.
Milton Friedman explains why our government keeps growing:
“I don’t believe it’s true for a second that we have so much government because people have such demands upon government.”
“We have so much government because once you get started in an area, it becomes a preserve of the people who can best take advantage of it, and they have a far greater interest in maintaining it than the population at large has in destroying it.”
Under capitalism, socialists are free to build socialism.
Under socialism, capitalists aren’t free to build anything.
Nothing stops a group of socialists pooling their money, forming a company, and splitting every wage and every pound of profit perfectly equally.... Or to donate all profit to the government.
It’s legal. It’s easy. Owning the means of production is as simple as setting up a company.
Marx wrote his manifesto before the invention of limited liability companies. Back then “seize the factory” meant seizing it from the handful of families who could afford one.
That argument expired the day anyone could start a company with limited liability, raise investment and hire who they want.
Socialists are free to lead by example and demonstrate their system works. They can out-recruit, out-motivate, out-build and out innovate based on their ideas if they like. It would prove the philosophy works. Capitalism will happily host their experiment.
The fact that nobody does this tells you a lot.
The market value of the Star Wars franchise is so low now that George Lucas should buy it back at a profit and say that all of the Disney movies are no longer canon.
Mitt Romney to Harvard Business School graduates: "There's more to a country than its economy. To be a great nation, it must also be a good nation. The world needs good men. It needs good women. Good leaders. Good parents raising good children. There is no national success that could compensate for failure to be a good and noble people."
It is depressing that Texas voters have to choose between a grifting adulterer dirtbag and an extreme far left lunatic with heretical and unacceptable cultural, theological, and political positions. Neither are acceptable candidates. Neither are conservative. Neither are moderate. Neither are fit for office. Any attempt to criticize one by defending the other is intellectually and morally deficient. BOTH candidates are unworthy of one’s support. It is not just that I CAN hold both positions at once (Paxton is personally unfit; Talarico is positionally unfit) - it is that I MUST hold both positions at once.
@DavidAFrench It’s not even power because Paxton makes it less likely that they’ll retain it. They are motivated by enmity. They support whomever is most likely to make their perceived enemies most upset