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Author Topic:   How Does Republican Platform Help Middle Class?
marc9000
Member
Posts: 1522
From: Ky U.S.
Joined: 12-25-2009
Member Rating: 1.3


Message 413 of 440 (613721)
04-26-2011 9:31 PM
Reply to: Message 399 by Dr Adequate
04-22-2011 4:13 AM


The Founding Fathers knew perfectly well that left to themselves some people will enrich themselves unjustly at the expense of others;
And where did they reference this? Where does it say that in the constitution? Which Federalist paper?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 399 by Dr Adequate, posted 04-22-2011 4:13 AM Dr Adequate has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 416 by Dr Adequate, posted 04-27-2011 1:42 AM marc9000 has replied

  
marc9000
Member
Posts: 1522
From: Ky U.S.
Joined: 12-25-2009
Member Rating: 1.3


Message 421 of 440 (614028)
04-30-2011 9:30 PM
Reply to: Message 414 by crashfrog
04-27-2011 12:07 AM


I don't recall making any claims about who was, or wasn't, a "caring person"; to me it seems more like a function of personal incentive. Someone who makes money as a direct percentage of company profits - the owner and CEO, for instance - has a lot to gain, personally, by making the decision to violate the property rights of others and steal from them by polluting into their water, rather that paying for costly disposal of hazardous wastes.
They also have a lot to LOSE personally, by making decisions that that show most any type of disregard for the general public, some of whom they depend on to buy their product or service. Companies lose, and go out of business all the time. The only time it’s in the news is when the company is big enough/corrupt enough for the owner to walk away with a golden parachute. The other 99% of the time, the owner loses most everything he has.
They might even write an article in Forbes redefining "property rights" as the right to violate other people's property rights to their air and water. A bureaucrat, on the other hand, gets paid the same regardless, basically, so what's their incentive to "mission creep" besides the legitimate need for regulation?
Paid the same, you seem to think that money is the only thing that controls human activity, but it often comes in second or third, when it comes to individual motivation. Carol Browner qualifies/qualified as a tyrant by most standards the U.S. founders used to describe one. The world is full of people who practically live to give other people orders, whether it’s in business or government. Leaders are needed in both, but there are far fewer people who are qualified to be leaders than those who wish they were. There are zealots, busybodies, who puff themselves up and get their jollies watching others submit to their commands, and whatever monetary rewards that can come from it vary greatly in importance to them. Even so, in some cases, such as that of a president, or a bureaucrat like Browner, the monetary rewards can be huge. The U.S. president’s salary is currently $400,000 per year, plus benefits. Somewhere between half and three quarter of a billion dollars was spent to get him elected. Little if any of it was his own money of course, but if there’s that much financial interest in getting him elected, do you suppose he may get a few gifts, depending on where he visits, where he speaks, or what special interest he endorses? That can be equally, or more true, when it comes to an unelected bureaucrat like Browner. How many companies wouldn’t be glad to give her a gift, or a contribution for anything she wants to do, if only she conveniently fails to notice some environmental misstep they’re making? The harsher she is in general, the bigger gifts she can get to not be harsh sometimes.
But another danger about bureaucrats like Browner is how they can cater to special interests that seek to undermine the U.S. society and its values. At one time, Browner was listed as one of 14 leaders of a socialist group’s Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which calls for global governance and says rich countries must shrink their economies to address climate change. Enemies of the U.S. certainly agree, and gifts to Browner for using her position of power to shrink the U.S. economy a lot more likely than your claims of gifts and rewards to company CEO’s who enthusiastically poison the air and water to sicken and kill people who buy their products.
Some environmentalists are blaming "climate change" for the recent tornadoes in Alabama. The possibility of eliminating tornadoes by addressing climate change (and shrinking the economy) seems to excite them very much.
And what actions are you talking about, specifically?
The ones that were described in that link.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 414 by crashfrog, posted 04-27-2011 12:07 AM crashfrog has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 424 by crashfrog, posted 04-30-2011 9:54 PM marc9000 has replied
 Message 426 by Jon, posted 04-30-2011 10:03 PM marc9000 has replied
 Message 434 by ZenMonkey, posted 05-02-2011 1:10 AM marc9000 has replied

  
marc9000
Member
Posts: 1522
From: Ky U.S.
Joined: 12-25-2009
Member Rating: 1.3


Message 422 of 440 (614029)
04-30-2011 9:40 PM
Reply to: Message 416 by Dr Adequate
04-27-2011 1:42 AM


The Founding Fathers knew perfectly well that left to themselves some people will enrich themselves unjustly at the expense of others;
marc9000 writes:
And where did they reference this? Where does it say that in the constitution? Which Federalist paper?
I based my assertion on the proposition that the Founding Fathers were neither retarded nor gibbering mad.
So you have nothing? You are a history revisionist in every sense of the word. If the founders had any issues at all with restrictions of free markets, they would have made plenty of reference to it, not only in the constitution/declaration/bill of rights, but in other documented speeches, letters, etc.
Obviously some people enrich themselves unjustly at the expense of others. For example, muggers. Burglars. Pickpockets. Swindlers. Forgers.
We’re talking about free market activity, not thieves. If you equate free market activity with thievery, then you’re no believer in free markets, or the structure of the U.S. government.
I do not need to quote the Federalist Papers or the Constitution to demonstrate that the Founding Fathers knew this, any more than I need to quote the Federalist Papers or the Constitution to prove that they knew that grass is green and water is wet. These are facts universally conceded.
The founding fathers may have known it, but they also knew that it was none of their business, and none of the governments business. That's a historical fact.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 416 by Dr Adequate, posted 04-27-2011 1:42 AM Dr Adequate has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 425 by Jon, posted 04-30-2011 9:56 PM marc9000 has not replied
 Message 432 by Dr Adequate, posted 05-01-2011 12:22 AM marc9000 has replied

  
marc9000
Member
Posts: 1522
From: Ky U.S.
Joined: 12-25-2009
Member Rating: 1.3


Message 423 of 440 (614030)
04-30-2011 9:43 PM
Reply to: Message 417 by Dr Adequate
04-27-2011 4:09 AM


Since the War of Independence was not to any degree fought over the meaning of the General Welfare Clause, which had not at that time been written, this hardly seems to apply.
U.S. history 101, it was in every degree fought over repeated injuries and usurpations by the King of Great Britain, as listed in the Declaration of Independence. Different ideologies of who determines general welfare.
Perhaps this explains why the Founding Fathers had different interpretations of the General Welfare Clause, rather than a single collective interpretation.
Their interpretations varied somewhat, but there was enough agreement about limiting government to keep its powers narrowly defined, and allow definitions of the general welfare to be debated and decided in each case. A good example of general welfare applying to a future action that the founders couldn’t have forseen was the U.S. interstate highway system. By the 1950’s, its time had come, it promoted the general welfare as a compliment to the constitutional requirement of posting roads, and accomplished something that individual citizens couldn’t do for themselves. Things like that are what the general welfare clause was intended to address, not government retirement programs and government health care. (though it’s quite likely that presidents Jefferson or Madison would have vetoed an interstate highway system — they would have said let each state do it their own way)

This message is a reply to:
 Message 417 by Dr Adequate, posted 04-27-2011 4:09 AM Dr Adequate has not replied

  
marc9000
Member
Posts: 1522
From: Ky U.S.
Joined: 12-25-2009
Member Rating: 1.3


Message 427 of 440 (614034)
04-30-2011 10:03 PM
Reply to: Message 418 by ZenMonkey
04-27-2011 4:25 PM


You mean the guy who just turned down the opportunity to receive a heart transplant?
That’s exactly the one I mean. Whether or not he turned it down is absolutely irrelevant.
Your point is irrelevant. You have a single case of one inmate who could have received an relatively expensive procedure, but won't. This is hardly evidence of a widespread demand for expensive medical procedures among the US inmate population as a whole.
You were the one that provided evidence of the widespread demand. From your link;
quote:
In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prisoners were entitled to the same medical and dental treatment as everyone else in their communitities.
You're wrong, and if you actually looked at the documentation I provided in Message 411, you'd see that it's not my opinion, it's a fact. The free market offers no solution to the cost of health care.
The free market can’t offer solutions to increased government involvement in their business, they can’t offer solutions to government corruption.
Considering that you have nothing to counter these facts other than the bare assertion that government is to blame, I can see why you now have nothing left to say.
As I can see you have nothing to address the documented increasing government involvement in healthcare laws. Prison inmates HAVE NOT not always had access to the health care of today’s technology. Only recent laws / court rulings have changed it. Increased government involvement.
Also, exactly who do you mean when you refer to the people who costly medical technologies developed by and for? Do you somehow think that medical researchers are saying, "Well, we don't want this new antibiotic to go to those sorts of people. It's only for our sort of people."? Do you know anything about medical ethics at all?
The medical researchers say, we want this new antibiotic to go to anyone who has the money to pay for it. At least, that’s what they said back when free markets still actually had much to do with health care.
Dr Adequate was using citations from the Constitution itself, as well as a pertinent statement from Alexander Hamilton, and a clear factual analysis of the subsequent history of the interpretation of the General Welfare clause. Exactly what part of that is "far left talking points from the internet?" Do you have a particular site in mind that you think he plagiarized from?
He gets it from history revisionists of the Democrat party. It’s everywhere. But you won’t find historical facts like the following on any of his reference sites.
quote:
President James Madison on March 3, 1817 vetoed a public works bill saying: "Having considered the bill this day presented to me entitled 'An act to set apart and pledge certain funds for internal improvements,' and which sets apart and pledges funds 'for constructing roads and canals, and improving the navigation of water courses, in order to facilitate, promote, and give security to internal commerce among the several States, and to render more easy and less expensive the means and provisions for the common defense,' I am constrained by the insuperable difficulty I feel in reconciling the bill with the Constitution of the United States and to return it with that objection to the House of Representatives, in which it originated."
Madison; "The legislative powers vested in Congress are specified and enumerated in the eighth section of the first article of the Constitution, and it does not appear that the power proposed to be exercised by the bill is among the enumerated powers."
In 1854, President Franklin Piece vetoed a bill to help the mentally ill, saying, "I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for public charity. (To approve the measure) would be contrary to the letter and spirit of the Constitution and subversive to the whole theory upon which the Union of these States is founded."
The letter and spirit? In 1854? The actual meaning of the constitution was alive and well many decades after it was written. But it seems 225 years is just too long for some people.
quote:
President Grover Cleveland vetoed a bill for charity relief, saying, "I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and duty of the General Government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit."
Why didn’t Cleveland invoke the general welfare clause? Because he knew how the constitution and bill of rights limited its use? That if Hamilton wanted a loose interpretation of the general welfare clause specified in the constitution, he didn’t get his wish? He was outvoted?
You seem to have an inability to think in anything other than extremes. To a rational mind, there is an significant difference between Congress being responsible for expenditures for the General Welfare, and doing "absolutely anything it wanted."
Explain that difference to me. What would the government be restricted in doing? What government activity couldn’t possibly be worded/described to fall under general welfare?
First, Tytler never said that; you're simply passing on yet another Made-up Quote for Conservatives. Second, considering that Tytler most significant book was on how best to translate Greek and Latin, that doesn't necessarily lend him a tremendous amount of authority in matters of political analysis. Third, if he did have something significant to say about democratic forms of government, it's not likely that Hamilton or anyone else would have known about it, as the book that Tytler did write on history was apparently published posthumously in 1850.
Again, you're presenting an argument ad absurdum. Way absurdum.
It doesn’t really matter who said it. It states that unlimited Democracy can’t last, and Hamilton said unlimited democracy can’t last. Do you believe the U.S. is still rising in prosperity? This link should give you a hint;
Private pay shrinks to historic lows as gov't payouts rise - USATODAY.com
quote:
Paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of this year, a USA TODAY analysis of government data finds.
At the same time, government-provided benefits from Social Security, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other programs rose to a record high during the first three months of 2010.
The trend is not sustainable, says University of Michigan economist Donald Grimes. Reason: The federal government depends on private wages to generate income taxes to pay for its ever-more-expensive programs. Government-generated income is taxed at lower rates or not at all, he says. "This is really important," Grimes says.
You mean Federalist #45, in which Madison argues that the Federal government will never be stronger than the respective state governments, since among other reasons, only state legislatures can elect the President, just as only state legislatures can elect US senators? Madison appears to be a bit behind the times. In case you never heard of it, the US fought a civil war sometime in the middle of the 19th century, and one of the issues that that war decided was that the Union was in fact more than an association of independent sovereign states. History is not on your side, nor is it on Madison's. You are correct in saying that Madison was a vital formative force in the shaping of the American form of government. However, on this particular point - the meaning of the General Welfare clause and the subsequent power of Congress to tax and spend - Madison's view did not prevail.
Why did Grover Cleveland indicate that it did, 100 years later?
Because he knew that the text of the constitution proves it. Any founder who believed in a loose interpretation of the general welfare clause didn’t get ANY constitutional wording in his favor.
Do you have any data at all to back up any of these assertions? I'd be interested to see it.
I saw it all with my own eyes. If you don’t believe it, it’s an indicator that you may be out of touch with reality. What do you expect me to do, take some pictures of the empty test stations and post them here?
Data, please. Anything?
Did you notice the link about mission creep? Here it is again. You won’t read it of course, but the data is there.
Carol Browner, master of mission creep
Well, for sane people, the time to dig the well is not when you're dying of thirst. You don't put off funding the fire department until after the house is already burning down. But that's just for sane people, I guess.
The way to do something about losses of liberty due to government meddling should be anything but giving the government more power.
Who said the program failed? You?
It was discontinued, and its insignificance concerning cleanliness was reluctantly mentioned by the liberal news media.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 418 by ZenMonkey, posted 04-27-2011 4:25 PM ZenMonkey has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 433 by Dr Adequate, posted 05-01-2011 12:38 AM marc9000 has not replied

  
marc9000
Member
Posts: 1522
From: Ky U.S.
Joined: 12-25-2009
Member Rating: 1.3


Message 428 of 440 (614035)
04-30-2011 10:09 PM
Reply to: Message 420 by Meddle
04-27-2011 9:17 PM


Just to say that in the UK the average cost of a heart transplant is about 30,000 ($50,000) which is still quite a lot, but is a fraction of what you have to pay. Is this the marvels of the free market you talk of?
As I said above, the free market can’t provide solutions to government meddling in their affairs.
quote:
James R. Copland, the report's director, said that trial lawyers gross more than $49 billion annually. That, he said, is more than the U.S. operations of Walgreens, Boeing, or Allstate, more than twice as much as Archer Daniels Midland, more than three times as much as Motorola, and fully seven times as much as McDonald's.
http://madisonrecord.com/news/contentview.asp?c=185639
A trial lawyer’s television ad in my area claims that insurance companies make $60 billion per year. That adds up to $109 billion, and the money has to come from somewhere. Insurance companies don’t always mind government meddling — as I said earlier in this thread, companies in free markets will gladly spend money on anything, as long as it results in them getting more money somewhere else, and they don’t care where else. Our tort laws are fantastic tools for insurance companies to scare people into buying more insurance from them. More than an additional $49 billion worth.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 420 by Meddle, posted 04-27-2011 9:17 PM Meddle has not replied

  
marc9000
Member
Posts: 1522
From: Ky U.S.
Joined: 12-25-2009
Member Rating: 1.3


Message 429 of 440 (614037)
04-30-2011 10:26 PM
Reply to: Message 424 by crashfrog
04-30-2011 9:54 PM


Not really. There are plenty of clueless or apathetic folks - like yourself! - who are completely unaffected by the notion of saving a couple of bucks at the expense of an aquifer or two.
Here you go with the conspiracy theories again.
We do have irony!
How much should it be when your guy is president?
My POINT was, that his salary is microscopic when compared to the gifts / bribes / corruption that are involved in his actions. Just like EPA administrators.
Nobody's suggesting that it's possible to eliminate tornadoes, but it's worth addressing the factors that apparently created more than four times the usual frequency of such storms. Don't you think Alabama's economy just shrinked as a result of the destruction? How much money can 300 dead people (and rising) spend?
Of course nobodys suggesting that, because that would require some documentation, something that environmentalists seldom provide when they seek to destroy liberty by limiting the use of fossil fuels.
You answered generally. I asked you which actions specifically.
Do you understand the difference between "general" and "specific"?
I didn't bother - I had hoped your attention span would last at least halfway through my link, but now we see that you didn’t even make it to the bottom of page 2.
quote:
Last September Browner announced the release of a new EPA report setting forth a broad national agenda to protect children from environmental risks. She followed up the report with the creation earlier this year of the Office of Children's Health Protection at EPA.
There was no congressional mandate, but Congress meekly went along by failing to challenge the agency's justification of the program. Who would want to face reelection accused of being callous toward children? Especially when the EPA's kept researchers stand by ready to produce scare studies on EPA money (see box, p. 172).
"Setting fourth a broad agenda" - "creation of an office" - she doesn't follow laws, congress follows her laws. Gifts may have been exchanged, suggestions (possibly from outside the U.S.) may have been made.
Edited by marc9000, : added a quote that I forgot

This message is a reply to:
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marc9000
Member
Posts: 1522
From: Ky U.S.
Joined: 12-25-2009
Member Rating: 1.3


Message 430 of 440 (614038)
04-30-2011 10:28 PM
Reply to: Message 426 by Jon
04-30-2011 10:03 PM


How does it shrink the economy?
Your jokes amuse me too. 6th grade economics - if the government restricts the use of fossil fuels to combat climate change, there will be less economic activity.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 426 by Jon, posted 04-30-2011 10:03 PM Jon has replied

Replies to this message:
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marc9000
Member
Posts: 1522
From: Ky U.S.
Joined: 12-25-2009
Member Rating: 1.3


Message 435 of 440 (614215)
05-02-2011 7:15 PM
Reply to: Message 432 by Dr Adequate
05-01-2011 12:22 AM


What is this gibberish? I said that the Founding Fathers knew that some people, left to themselves, would enrich themselves unjustly at the expense of others.
This has nothing to do with the economic concept of a free market, in which transactions are voluntary.
So therefore, it has nothing to do with this entire thread. Why did you bring it up? Because, like most liberals, the phrase enrich themselves at the expense of others is a demonization of free markets, and you’re now backpedaling because I nailed you on it?
Back in reality, the Founding Fathers knew perfectly well that it was one of the most important functions of government to prevent one person from unjustly enriching himself at the expense of another. This is why they raised no objection to laws against burglary. Or counterfeiting. Or assassination for hire.
Is this the worst smoking you’ve ever gotten before at EvC? You don’t handle it very gracefully. History revisionism isn’t going too well for you. You might try something different when comparing U.S. founders to todays liberalism. Something like what Message 415 contained;
Jon writes:
The Federalist Papers are irrelevant.
The Founders are irrelevant.
It’s much more honest. Misguided, but honest.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 432 by Dr Adequate, posted 05-01-2011 12:22 AM Dr Adequate has replied

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 Message 437 by Dr Adequate, posted 05-02-2011 8:56 PM marc9000 has not replied

  
marc9000
Member
Posts: 1522
From: Ky U.S.
Joined: 12-25-2009
Member Rating: 1.3


Message 436 of 440 (614216)
05-02-2011 7:25 PM
Reply to: Message 434 by ZenMonkey
05-02-2011 1:10 AM


So it's good if a business owner loses business because consumers won't buy products from a known polluter, but it's bad if he loses business because government regulations restrict his ability to be a polluter?
Yes. In a free society, voluntary, free market transactions (the public at large) are to be trusted far more than government regulations, (made by a small handful of bureaucrats) to judge losses in business.
I'm wondering, how exactly are consumers supposed to find out on their own who's a polluter? Blogs? The National Enquirer? Fox News? Are you personally going to investigate whether or not there's jet fuel in your milk, DDT in your carrots, and PCBs in your drinking water?
If milk, carrots, and drinking water tasted bad, it would be a good indicator. If one company’s milk or carrots tasted better than another company’s, company #1 would get the business and make more money. Of course I realize that one company isn’t in a position to test another company’s product, and taste isn’t always foolproof, some poison is tasteless. If testing is required, it should be up to the states to do it, each in their own way as they see fit.
It's not historical revisionism to note that industries simply don't regulate themselves for the common good. Meat processing plants didn't voluntarily stop allowing rat droppings, the rats themselves, and workers' fingers from being mixed in with the sausage. Coal mine owners didn't decide on their own to stop sending men and boys down to work 12 hour shifts breathing coal dust. Big agricultural concerns didn't do studies on their own to see what massive use of pesticides was doing to the environment. They didn't do these things until the government, taking seriously its responsibility to the general welfare, got involved.
States, each in their own way. That way, what works the best and most efficient gets a state bragging rights, and encourages other states to follow that example.
I will admit that every once in a while, companies do respond to consumer demand that they clean up their act. For example, Nike finally decided, after years of protests about its use of sweatshops in other countries, to stop attacking its critics and start monitoring working conditions abroad. However, they still make almost all of their goods in countries like China, where there is no environmental regulation, no labor laws, and workers make less than $2 a day. The point remains: companies will do whatever they can get away with in order to maximize their profits. Capitalism is founded on the principle that companies should do whatever they can get away with to maximize their profits.
And tyrannies are founded on the principle that people are too stupid to look out for themselves, when voluntarily dealing in free markets. And the peoples’ well being always comes in second behind the tyrant(s) acquisition of power and money for himself.
By the way, the case of China illustrates why it takes federal regulation, not state regulation, to restrict harmful practices. Just as the US government is in no position to tell China to not dump toxic waste, if you depended on state regulation, Florida would be powerless to prevent hog farms in Georgia from flushing their waste downstream and across the state line. Environmental regulation is manifestly a federal issue.
They could appeal to the federal government on a case-by-case basis. Most environmental issues aren’t about pollution crossing state lines that one state finds objectionable while another does not.
So given the above, can you come up with any companies that have actually gone out of business due to environmental regulation? Names and dates, please.
EPA regulations force power plant out of business, more to follow | The Daily Caller
Large scale ones are easy to find on the net, but the smaller scale ones aren’t nearly as documented. Runaway environmentalism indirectly cripples business and destroys livelihoods / liberty. For example, from 1980 to 1990, the cost of auto paint in the U.S multiplied by about seven times, far more than most any other product. Mostly because of stringent new standards paint companies had to face during that decade. I was in the business at that time, that’s how I know. I’m sure someone in the laundry business for a long period, or any business that uses chemicals, could tell similar stories. It’s effects run deep throughout a society.
Seems that the only liberty you seem concerned with is the liberty to make as much money as you can.
I'm concerned with a society that trusts their safety to government agents who often have the same disposition and attitude of a motor vehicle clerk, or IRS agent.

This message is a reply to:
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Replies to this message:
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