left-wing/right-wing bare bones

[johncomic]

To me, the left vs. right debate boils down to co-operation vs. competition.

“We should help each other out” vs. “Every man for himself”.

To me, human society is by its very nature co-operative. Society first came into existence when two cavemen got together and realized that they could get more done by working together and helping each other out, than they could do individually. Our daily lives are only possible in their current form because of our support net built out of the co-operation of thousands or millions of our fellow citizens.

Therefore, to me, any political system that doesn't actively support co-operation and helping each other out, is by its very nature anti-social.

Granted, when we help each other out (and, by extension, share), some of us end up with less that we could amass if left to our own devices. So I can understand why those who are primarily interested in how much they can get for themselves, might not be as interested in co-operating. But, again: anti-social.

Just sayin.


BTW, I'm planning to limit my political venting to today only, in the aftermath of last night's election. After this, I'm all about comics and unpopular music again!

Comments

[ginsu.livejournal.com]

Same here: but that makes us very bad conservatives. In fact, it makes us commies.

Oh, I wouldn't say that.

Marx's concept was this: "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." Well, that's adorable. It's never going to work for many reasons.

My concept is a lot less ambitious: leave capitalism the hell alone, and instead reprioritize investment to get a better result.

For instance, we can continue to optimize our horrible healthcare system so that instead of spending 17% of GDP, and climbing rapidly, we spend more like 10%, and keep that figure stable.

That is what every other Western nation has already done. That alone would be a staggering coup for fiscal conservatives (who, in the end, are all about accomplishing more with fewer resources -- making money work in a smarter way).

We can also stop spending so f-ing much on defense, especially when it's so often used for offense (invading other nations that haven't provoked action and rebuilding them as we see fit, etc).

With those savings, it would be a relatively simple matter to ensure that no American is homeless, no American starves, and no American is denied a college education because the bill is too steep.

That's not communism. That's just smart money management.

they do have a system of offering bare passing grades that haven't been earned

This exists in the US, but is usually associated with the unusual case (athletes who make the school look good). And so far from being a system, it's the sort of thing that can get a college into deep trouble with the NCAA.