[clue-talk] The stimulus bill

[dennisjperkins at comcast.net]

That being said, I don't understand Jeremy's and the majority of people 
on this list's problem with Obama. Throwing around the phrase 
"socialism" doesn't explain anything, other than you listen to Rush too 
much. "Redistribution of wealth" is another one of those empty 
phrases. Bush's administration moved wealth from the poor to the 
rich...how is that not redistribution? When President Bush signed the 
TARP legislation, how come that wasn't "government-controlled 
corporations", but Obama's package which pays small businesses to fix 
bridges is? In Bush's legislation, the government actually took a 
controlling interest in corporations. 


I'd like to challenge this board to come up with a single US president 
from the last century that embodies conservative principles. Bush 43? 
Raised the debt, raised spending, took control of corporations, 
redistributed wealth. Bush 41? Raised taxes. Reagan? Increased both 
government spending and the number of government employees. In fact, 
Reagan was so bad that the only reason we saw employment increase was 
due to the massive increase in government employees. Ford? Well, to 
tell you the truth, I don't know crap about what Ford did. Nixon? The 
guy was practically a hippy. Raised taxes, controlled prices, made nice 
with Communist governments. How far back to we need to look to find a 
true conservative? 

So, who is this mythical "conservative President"? Or, are y'all just 
going to keep hoping that every person the US elects will fail because 
he doesn't meet your purity test? 


This country has always practiced some socialism, even if it hasn't been recognized as such. Who built the Erie Canal? The government. Who builds our roads? Mostly the government. Both can be considered socialist in nature. They definitely weren't capitalist actions. 

What about the Homestead Act? It let millions of people buy land at very low prices. Capitalism would have sold it at the highest price the market would bear. 


Some of the presidents we might consider conservative might have been considered liberal in their day. 


I don't regard myself as being either conservative or liberal. Or belonging to any other ism. 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://cluedenver.org/pipermail/clue-talk/attachments/20090204/bb09fe28/attachment.html