socialism

[Rhett&SarahsMom]

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And yet then you get the "trophies and blue ribbons for EVERYONE!"
group.

I had a group of parents want us to do that for the horse shows we had on base.
"All the kids deserve a first place ribbon"
Uh. "No. Not all the kids deserve a first place blue ribbon!"

I was not going to pay a judge to come in and "judge" a class to only have all the kids get a blue.
It isnt fair to the kids that go to the stables daily and take lessons. Groom their ponies and horses, braid them properly. Clean their tack and present themselves to the highest standards. Boots polished. Clean riding pants. etc etc.
To end the class standing next to a kid wearing torn jeans on a filthy pony, after said kid and pony tore around the ring with no control or discipline. To have that kid also get a first place ribbon? Nope. Not on my watch.
It's disheartening to the kids, parents, instructors and even to the horses and ponies who can pick up on how their people "feel"

And that they still have classes like this, even for adults. Makes me ill.
Not everyone deserves a blue ribbon. Or a promotion. etc. Heck I am pretty sure not everyone that gets one deserves a million dollar bonus

 

[SarahBeth9394]

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That was awesome. Thanks for the link.

 

[Msbear]

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I happen to agree about some "normal" people running for office. I think Bush and Obama are mighty fine guys but politics in general have become so corrupt... it's hard to separate themselves from a huge mess that has become our government. I think an intelligent, hard working person should take a swing at it. This person would still have all the brightest minds for his/her cabinet, but the final decisions would be led by someone who truly understand "the people"

I wanted to write in Snoop Dog

 

[speckledhen]

12. We strongly discourage religious and political topics and reserve the right to delete them at our discretion. The topics of religion and politics should be confined to the “Random Ramblings” section of the forum.

Tread carefully, folks.​

 

[mjdtexan]

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I was with ya right up until you got there

 

[Xtina]

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I agree partially with this post, except for the fact that the OP was a good analogy. I've gotten that forward several times and always deleted it straightaway. Instead of using this as a way to explain a political concept to a young person, I'd use it as an illustration of how biased and sheltered people are, and how it's important to not believe everything that comes to you through an email forward.

I was taught about socialism and communism by people with this same mentality. Now as an adult, what I think when I look back on that teaching is how biased and incomplete it was. Here's an example. Imagine that in socialist nations, people sent similar forwards about straight capitalism. It might go something like this: "In capitalism, people are rewarded for their hard efforts as well as for their cheating and stealing. The only thing that matters is how much money you make and how much of it you can hide from the government so as to keep it all for yourself, while people that might have benefitted from social programs go hungry, sick, and uneducated." This email would be biased and unfair. That's now how it works in capitalism, and the original post is not how it works in socialism. Sure, we hear about the worst of the worst, like North Korea and Venezuela, while the best get brushed under the rug, like Sweden. We criticize North Korea's government for letting aid organizations (non-profits) feed its people while spending its money to build nuclear weapons (or at least, I criticize North Korea) while our own government does the exact same thing but to a lesser extent. And that's the danger of listening to emails like this one. So critical of what goes on in other nations but we can't see the planks in our own eyes.

When you hear the word socialism, as the quoted poster said there is no pure socialist nation. The socialist nations today are really capitalist societies that have installed social safety nets for their people. It's a LOT like America, except that the populace gains the benefits of taxes instead of mostly businesses. Socialism is not a contradiction of democracy. And democracy is the concept that America is proud of. Capitalism is completely different from democracy. What we criticize in nations like North Korea is dictatorship. And you could theoretically have a capitalist dictatorship.

Nations like Sweden, France, Great Britain, and Germany are capitalist with strong socialist underpinnings that they value tremendously. In Sweden, they pay 10% more income tax than we do in the United States. And for their money, they get universal healthcare and one of the best public education systems in the world that begins at daycare and continues into graduate school. So the major expenses most Americans save for or are made broke because of, are free to the Swedish. Does this make the Swedish lazy people who've stopped trying? No. Instead, they beat the pants off us in tests, because they are incredibly better educated on average than we are. They have a military but they also care about the status of their people. This is what I would tell a 14 year old studying about socialism: "No, it's not perfect, and neither is capitalism. Nothing is perfect and we all do our best and learn from our mistakes."

Do I want to move to Sweden or become a socialist? Nope. But I reject the statement, "America, love it or leave it." Because this is America, it is great, I say, "America, love it or change it."

 

[yotetrapper]

While I am incredibly scared about what is going on in this country now, as I have never been before, I do see a ray of hope. In the past 5 months I have seen so many people that were heretofore sitting on the sidelines waking up. Every day I see several posts just like this one popping up and that excites me. I think we've gone far enough now that people are starting to say..."hey....wait a minute!" and thats wonderful. The New American Tea Party is spreading through the nation like wildfire now, although I doubt you've heard of it on CNN. I just hope enough of us wake up spoon enough to take our country back!

 

[SarahBeth9394]

Yep yote people are starting to rethink their vote. Yes they voted the way they did. But like has been said before if you don't like it change it. By getting up and making our voices heard we are starting the process.

 

[farmerlor]

Very good post Xtina! What so many people fail to realize is that we, like so many other countries have instituted policies that strictly speaking fall under Socialist beliefs for centuries.

 

[Msbear]

Good post Xtina. I agree with a lot of what you're saying. Im not keen on universal health care. Many people would be paying for it and others who wouldn't would still get it. I don't think a child should ever go without, though. A child should always be granted healthcare as well as people who cannot work. But those who can and don't shouldn't be rewarded with free government programs like many today.

I also believe every child should have the best school system available to them. My mother told me the other day how when she looks at her grandchildrens homework, she can't believe how much easier it is than when she was in that grade. Im hearing stories of friends who send thier kids to public school and they are shocked at how much their children regress from what they were taught before school. Many of my friends are deciding to homeschool to avoid high costs of private schools. My son is 2 and we are already considering other options than public schools.

We are in dire need of reform to our education system if we want to be competitive with outher countries. We are America!! College should be free!! We need our people to excel and learn for the betterment of our country. Stop repaving the same darn road every other year and put that into college funds for our children!!