Those who like to talk about the alleged difficulties of economic calculation in a possible future socialist political-economy do not understand the objective -- and recognized -- difficulties... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 09:45:34
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The power of capital is an authoritarian power, and this is analogous to the power of the state.  Capital is authoritarian government in the workplace, just as the state is authoritarian... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 10:29:59
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Do the poor officially govern others? Or, do the rich authoritatively govern others? If every piece of land, and every unit of capital is private property, then can't it be stated that the... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 10:53:05
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Karl Marx was one of the last of the classical political-economists. Karl Marx both completed and criticized the classical school of political-economy. Marx wrote at the final culmination of... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 11:01:18
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To own property is to control property; and, to control is to govern. When the bourgeois state incorporated a limited franchise, a restricted suffrage, with political participation limited... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 11:41:28
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If slavery enables the transfer of wealth from the slaves to the masters, then it must be that the slaves directly created the wealth by their labor, and then the wealth is transferred from the... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 11:59:15
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When the franchise was limited to the property-owners, and when the elected politicians came from the property-owning classes, that is when the political state was owned, acknowledged,... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 12:06:56
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In the case of the United States, the plutocrats owned and controlled the government -- in that they alone had an exclusive right to vote, and to be voted into political office -- from the time... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 12:12:16
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In a pluto-democracy, the wealthy proprietors own the state, because they exclusively possess the franchise, and can vote. The wealthy proprietors owned the plutocratic state, because... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 12:21:42
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Capitalism necessitates an authoritarian form of government. Capitalism needs a strong-arm state, a coercive and bullying state, a disciplinarian state, precisely because the majority would... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 12:28:41
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When has the modern state not been useful to the super-wealthy élites? When has the modern state not been needed to coercively uphold and maintain the capitalist order, including the... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 12:31:36
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Poverty does not lift the poor up in any morally conceivable way. Poverty dehumanizes. Docility humiliates. Capitalism makes the private proprietors into a corruptible... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 12:36:25
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The liberal intellectuals have learned from the socialist philosophers, and have convinced the elected politicians to legislate a welfare-state in order to impede and to arrest the worst... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 12:53:41
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The way some describe a libertarian/anarchist form of capitalism, there is both a mercenary army and a mercenary police. If the poor cannot afford to buy a professional mercenary... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 12:58:21
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An anarchist and/or libertarian capitalism, with the rich purchasing a professional and organized mercenary gang, would eventually evolve into an authoritarian military state, with organized,... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 13:00:21
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There can be no doubt about it. Slaves are human beings; and, as human beings, slaves are both naturally intelligent and naturally free beings.  During all the centuries of slavery, there... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 13:03:03
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In the antebellum United States, the New England states used the labor of escaped chattel-slaves in the more fashionable form of modern-day slavery known as wage- slavery. In his... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 13:06:44
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There are two different and opposed schools of libertarian philosophy. The social philosophy of one of the schools is well summarized by the well-known anti-social words of Margaret Hilda... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 13:10:36
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Conditions can limit my realistic choices; but, conditions cannot erase my natural volition.  Even a slave can always say "NO!" to their master. The fact that slaves... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 13:17:26
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Coercion is when some other person limits my choices, fences my options. Freedom is always there, wherever there is a human being, even when a human being is being coerced and enslaved. I do... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 14:11:36
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If Africans were free before institutionalized slavery, if African-Americans are free after the abolition of slavery, then how is it that those enslaved Negroes were not also free? Are we to... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 14:21:52
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That a slave does not exercise their natural and enduring freedom does not deny the reality and existence of freedom. As long as the slave is alive, the slave's freedom lives, even if that... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 14:26:37
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A distinction should be drawn between state and society; and thus, a clear distinction must be made between a natural and necessary anarchist government, and an unnatural and artificial... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 14:51:58
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Some believe that the government of the United States of America is a truly democratic form of government.  But, the United States is not a truly democratic form of government.... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 16:29:49
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If not enough people are educated and prepared for life in a democracy, then it is very likely that democracy cannot and will not last more than a very short period of time. The more... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-05 16:43:32
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It is said by some that "a lynch mob is a perfect example of a democracy".  Some will interpret the Constitution of the United States -- which guarantees... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 13:41:05
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Human beings often must make sacrifices, and human beings must always do their duty. If one does not recognize a moral obligation, then one is not obligated to perform... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 13:55:38
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There is a destructive, pessimistic, despairing and misanthropic school of nihilism. This school of nihilism begins and ends with cynicism, gloom and doom, dark despair and distrust. There is... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 14:01:50
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Names and words inevitably and unavoidably distort reality; and so, they must often be made diaphanous with the frequent use of qualifying and defining adjectives. When I write, I give free... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 14:07:37
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Some people prefer to be hard-hearted and hard-headed, but such preferences are impractical, imprudent, and impossible. Such preferences are immoderate, impulsive, imaginary,... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 14:10:54
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The establishment has always played with words.  Language is a labyrinth of perplexity and of confusion. Trying to get to the truth, and then trying to communicate some of the truth one... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 14:15:23
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That human beings must often make sacrifices isnot a fascist view. That human beings must always do their duty is not a fascist idea. Fascism was a perversion of the virtuous ideal of... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 14:22:30
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We already have the knowledge and technology to escape subsistence and slavery; but, capitalism cannot preside over such a leap to such a new and fair beginning, to such a good and just... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 14:24:20
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If rights have something to do with the way our brains are wired, then we are still the authors and the creators of whatever social organization we have constituted. Empathy... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 14:26:53
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Perhaps the so-called "state of nature" has never existed. Perhaps the "state of nature" is only a conventional myth, a banal fiction. It can be a very useful idea; but, even... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 14:30:10
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What is so wrong with the notion of fairness and of justice as being subjective, as if whatever is subjective is necessarily wrong, false, mistaken, or fallacious? The state... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 14:34:24
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I suppose that every system founded upon liberty will suffer the risk of free-rider problems, but a capitalism that justifies the free-riders at the top cannot hope to do away with... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 14:38:36
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Colonialism, authoritarianism and global capitalism are the creations of christian hypocrisy. "We are villains by necessity." -- Anonymous... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 14:41:20
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Every objective fact is experienced subjectively, and every important truth is a subjective truth. Subjectivity includes the intellect and the volition, as much as our emotions... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 14:44:26
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A dream is, according to the Bible, "a vision of the night". We live in darkness; and so, we must dream in the darkness. We must have our visions in the dark night of the world as... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 14:47:45
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If the citizens of an anarchist community do not "vote anarchism in", then I suppose this would mean that the citizens have not consented to an anarchist arrangement, that the... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 14:52:35
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Answers to questions are not always simple; sometimes the answers are conditional, sometimes the answers are contradictory, sometimes the answers are unknown, or uncertain.... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 20:16:57
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An answer that is not expressed does not exist; an answer that does not yet exist, because not yet given, cannot yet be understood. Greedy people want to conquer, invade,... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 20:49:21
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Is human nature good? Not entirely. Not always. Is human nature evil? Not entirely. Not always. "When I want to read a book, I write one." -- Benjamin Disraeli... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 20:51:59
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The privileges of the proprietors do not come for free. There is no such thing as a free lunch, even for the class of proprietors. The right to exploit the labors of other people, the right... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 21:02:03
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If a community is self-governed, rather than state-governed, then it is a democratically- governed community, and it is an anarchist community. I am not the first, or the only person to equate... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 21:06:55
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Before people can be free to trade, they must also be free to work, free to produce, and free to own what they have produced by their own labors, whether it be individual or collective... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 21:08:26
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In an egalitarian, non-authoritarian socialist-democratic republic, each citizen's public decision-making powers will be equal, every citizen will possess an equal one-person- one-vote... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 21:12:16
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We have private property today, co-existing with a lot of personal poverty and personal deprivation.  If every person enjoyed freedom of full access to productive work, and a right to... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 21:18:35
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Most of us know what labor means.  Employers may engage in labor; but employers, as employers -- in the rôle and function of employer -- are not engaged as laborers in active/actual... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 21:29:25
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Wealth is created with both thought and action, not with one or the other alone. In poor countries, there is too much unemployment.  Unemployment always accounts for... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-09 21:32:38
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There are some fanatical and extremist anti-christian versions of socialism; but, there are also some militant and zealous anti-christian versions of christianity. There are... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 11:14:30
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Labor alone -- both mental labor and manual labor -- creates useful/usable wealth.  There is mental labor, and there is manual labor; there is intellectual labor, and there is physical... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 12:04:26
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A slave's disobedience does not produce, does not originate, the slave's natural freedom; rather, disobedience, like obedience, is the performance of freedom, the exercise of freedom, the... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 12:08:08
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If slaves are human beings, then slaves are as free as every human being is free. Spartacus, the famous Thracian slave, who died in 71 B.C., was free; and that is why he finally... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 12:31:12
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There is a consensus among scientific biologists that the theory of organic evolution is the most reasonable and the most responsible theory there is to explain both what was and what is, as... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 12:40:38
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If you have knowledge of the history of anarchism, then you know that anarchism and communism have been connected and coupled from the very beginnings of both of these two ideas The have... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 12:45:09
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Those who defend capitalism will simply respond to the latest statistics -- which say that one in eight Americans is poor -- by asserting that these statistics are embellished, exaggerated,... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 12:52:38
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I believe that a very large majority of people, living in these United States, for example, have no concept, no notion, of collective life without an authoritarian state, possessing a command... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 13:00:45
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In every association of individuals, in every family, in every community, and in every society, there is politics. Where two or more persons are living together, and/or working together, there... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 13:05:40
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There are ideological capitalists who call themselves anarcho-capitalists.  In a capitalist anarchist arrangement, what's to keep a bunch of people -- industrial proprietors and... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 13:08:29
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If war is a consequence of the struggle for scarce resources, then how is class warfare to be avoided in a capitalist anarchism with a class of private proprietors owning exclusively the... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 13:15:12
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Control of captive lands and peoples is control of resources. Subjugated people are enslaved, and are thus a labor resource. There have been, and there are, market economies which were also... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 13:20:27
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Capitalism is not about universal prosperity, unless this can serve to maximize the profit-seeking needs of capital. Universal prosperity can serve to increase demand for goods, but it also... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 13:22:54
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Democracy is not dead; it has not yet been born.  The problem is not that democracy is dead; but rather, the problem is that the liberal reforms of capitalism are being reversed and... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 13:31:02
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Why not compare and contrast anarcho-capitalism with, for example, anarcho- communism, one of the classical anarchisms, so that the anarcho-capitalist can argue for anarchist views... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 16:51:02
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Is it OK that an ideological label -- i.e., anarchism -- with a long history, is taken over by capitalist writers and thinkers with a different ideological preference  --... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 16:57:26
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Do anarcho-capitalist writers and thinkers intend to dumb down their presentation of one version of anarchism?  Does this mean that an anarcho-capitalist author expects that his... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 17:05:04
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In an essay called "The Case Against Equality", William Letwin, a critic of egalitarianism, wrote:  "Inasmuch as people are unequal, it is rational to presume that they ought... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 17:20:45
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As a rationing principle, the communist motto -- "Freom each according to ability; to each according to need" -- is a very rational principle. Every human being has... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 17:28:15
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Anarchism is not the abolition of community; it is the abolition of the state. Well-supplied consumption depends upon abundant production. If we produce all that we need, then we... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 17:36:33
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The early, beginning stages of modern-day, really-existing capitalism were not as enchanting as the romantic fantasies of an innocent and uncorrupted laissez-faire capitalism would... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-16 19:34:53
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We already have a material solution to the problem of material scarcity, thanks to capitalism's own encouragement of industrial development and of technological progress. Of course,... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-18 10:25:33
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A society that is inherently and internally stable can be conquered and subjugated by an outside conqueror, by an exterior society of conquistadors. What was a peaceful community cannot be... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-18 10:47:01
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If unregulated capitalism encourages corruption and crime, then it is no accident that corruption and crime are so rampant in unregulated, laissez-faire capitalism. The liberal capitalist... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-18 10:52:38
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We do not live on Big Rock Candy Mountain, and we never will. But, we do have the industrial technology to live in a more sustainable economy of plenty. In a post-scarcity and... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-18 11:21:16
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No democratic socialist society has ever evolved into an authoritarian state. Every socialist state that has existed in modern times had its very first beginning as an authoritarian... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-18 11:26:02
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A social-democracy simply cannot be any one person's system, or property. A social-democracy aspires to abolish perpetual and/or periodic material scarcity.... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-18 11:44:04
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Really-existing capitalism does, in fact, involve some conspiracy. Even Adam Smith was aware of the fact that, for example, "people of the same trade seldom meet together but the... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-18 11:47:42
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Maybe capitalism creates a lot of complexities which democratic-socialism would simplify, and could clarify. What decisions are correct in a competitive and profiteering capitalism?... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-18 11:50:43
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Socialism, like democracy, does not now conform to reality because socialism, like democracy, does not yet truly exist, does not yet really exist. Ludwig Edler von Mises... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-18 12:01:28
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Ignorance is the only thing that is more costly than an education. The Prisoner's Dilemma assumes that the conspirators do not have information as to what the other conspirators... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-18 12:23:06
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Prices go up; prices go down. But, prices today are higher than they were ten years ago. There are two sides to a purchase. The seller and the buyer. There are two interests... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-18 12:30:22
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I do not change the definitions of the words and names I use. For example, the name "socialism" can hace two meanings, with one being more compatible with a statist meaning,... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-18 12:34:57
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There are two different dictionary-definitions of "socialism".  The statist meaning of socialism is given in dictionaries because there are socialists who do have a statist... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-18 12:49:06
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An anarchist can believe that the modern liberal state is necessary for really-existing capitalism to be established and perpetuated. An anarchist can believe that the modern liberal state is... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-18 13:08:05
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Imagine a military without money, and then try to imagine a government without a military, and then you will understand what must be very wrong with the assertion that "money is not... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-18 13:16:14
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According to a newsgroup polemicist named G*rd*n:  " In the 19th century (and earlier), the State was often diagnosed as a plot concocted by its leadership and... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 09:19:52
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If we need an interim form of a provisional "merit system", between existing capitalism and possible future communism, then we would need to have an agreement as to... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 09:33:00
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"From each according to their ability;" . . . it is assumed that each one is doing the best that he or she can do. "To each according to their need." . . . it is... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 09:38:00
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There is a lot more to a correct explanation of the economic successes of the United States than American capitalism. The welfare-state has done a lot to stimulate and animate the American... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 09:56:52
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There are dogmatic marxists, and there are religious marxists. But there are also liberal- minded marxists, and independent-minded marxists.  Every philosophy has its dogmatics; every... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 10:55:30
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There is political power attached to private property in large-scale industrial resources, and such exclusive and restrictive private property requires a powerful political state in... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 11:04:42
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As concerns history proving, or disproving, some designated idea, or some prescriptive opinion,  I do not believe that evolving and ongoing human history can definitively, decisively,... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 11:09:03
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There are ethical/moral disagreements as to what constitutes value, desert, worth, virtue, merit, etc. This is a philosophical difference.  No one can set forth empirical... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 11:12:04
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There are prescriptive statements, and there are descriptive statements. You cannot prove that a moral norm is fallacious, fictitious or false, and you cannot prove that a... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 11:47:01
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Thrift, innovation, risk-taking, entrepreneurship, etc. have merit. But the principal and paramount impression, conception, element, etc. of what we call "merit" has to do with a... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 11:52:08
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When I say that the "needy" ought to have a larger share of what they need, I mean a larger utility share, a larger consumption share, relative to the quantity of value, or the... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 11:58:23
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When we talk about the worth of a person to their community, that posited worth does not have to imply a commercial worth, or a commodity price, or a monetary value, or a market rating,... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 12:03:31
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The democratic and socialist commonwealth which I advocate favors every individual person working as they are able and receiving as they have need.  This is the material foundation, not... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 12:33:15
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Philosophical social-democrats do not have every answer to every question.  A person can advocate democracy; but, no philosophical democrat can write the... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 12:43:30
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I write the way some people pray. Even if there is no one listening, people pray. Even if there is no one reading what I write, I will still write. Some people write simply as a... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 12:48:05
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What I write is not intended to make readers happy. What I write in intended to express what I think concerning some idea, ideal, opinion, belief or aspiration. On some topical subject... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 13:12:30
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One's questions are usually shaped by one's own assumptions. Since one's assumptions are the basis of one's questions, one's questions are going to be prejudiced. ... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 13:23:43
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Without individuals, a species cannot and will not survive. The Prisoners' Dilemma theoretically states that a society of altruists will do better for themselves than a... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 13:32:09
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It is said:  "As long as you base your arguments on the actions of government or men, you will never understand the inherent nature of rights, or inherent entitlements. To... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 18:46:40
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I have been asked:  "I have a very urgent desire to eat today. I think we can safely assume that everyone else does too. Does that mean I have a right to food?" This is my... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 19:35:55
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When someone writes that "a right is something owed to you and/or guaranteed to you by some agency of enforcement", then such an assertion reminds me of the sanction theory... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 19:41:34
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What does "inherent"/"natural" rights mean? What does it mean to say that a right is inherently natural, or naturally inherent in sentient beings? And, what does our... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 19:44:47
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It has been asserted that rights existed, but were unrecognized, in those times before rights were articulated, demanded, contested, agitated for, fought for, and victorious.... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 19:52:35
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It has been said that there are rights that "quite likely exist, but are currently unrecognized in these times, and as such, these rights are not now or now enjoyed".... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 19:56:44
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It is possible, perhaps even likely, that there are other-than-human sentient beings; but, when we talk of human consciousness, we usually have the understanding that the human consciousness... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 19:59:40
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I asked a person:  "Can it be said that human beings have always possessed rights"? I was given this answer:  "Yes, although they were not always... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 20:02:26
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Radiation poisoning is one kind of phenomenon; rights are another kind of phenomenon.  Radiation poisoning existed before modern-day radiation theory was formulated. The harmful effects of... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 20:07:16
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An imaginary debate between Basilius and Valentinus: Basilius: Human beings have a natural awareness. But, do human beings have natural rights? Are rights a natural product, or a... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 20:28:47
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The word "exist" means "to stand out". And so, that can be said to exist which stands out from the rest of reality. For example, there is a coffee cup here on my desk, next... Read More
Posted by: rallen2 on 2008-03-21 20:30:41
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Rights are a creation of the human intellect, which intellect may posit a claimed right as inherent. The inherent attribute of a right is stipulated