"Racism" is nothing but a distraction driven by politicians and the media

sirfun

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swimming pools were drained !! )

not the swamp !! ) :)
couple of articles not fcking around !! )


Chief among them is Reagan’s half-spoken message to white Americans: Government helps only those people. Legal segregation was barely dead when Free America, using the libertarian language of individualism and property rights, pushed the country into its long decline in public investment. The advantages for business were easy to see. As for ordinary people, the Republican Party reckoned that some white Americans would rather go without than share the full benefits of prosperity with their newly equal Black compatriots.

 
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Ifallalot

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Chief among them is Reagan’s half-spoken message to white Americans: Government helps only those people. Legal segregation was barely dead when Free America, using the libertarian language of individualism and property rights, pushed the country into its long decline in public investment. The advantages for business were easy to see. As for ordinary people, the Republican Party reckoned that some white Americans would rather go without than share the full benefits of prosperity with their newly equal Black compatriots.
There's more of that "Individualism is racism" nonsense
 

Ifallalot

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couple of articles not fcking around !! )


Chief among them is Reagan’s half-spoken message to white Americans: Government helps only those people. Legal segregation was barely dead when Free America, using the libertarian language of individualism and property rights, pushed the country into its long decline in public investment. The advantages for business were easy to see. As for ordinary people, the Republican Party reckoned that some white Americans would rather go without than share the full benefits of prosperity with their newly equal Black compatriots.

This is how disconnected the various factions of our country are

For Reagan and the narrative of Free America, it meant freedom from government and bureaucrats. It meant the freedom to run a business without regulation, to pay workers whatever wage the market would bear, to break a union, to pass all your wealth on to your children, to buy out an ailing company with debt and strip it for assets, to own seven houses—or to go homeless.
The author writes as if those are bad things
 
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Ifallalot

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how do you figger ?? :shrug: )
The sentence that I didn't include

"But a freedom that gets rid of all obstructions is impoverished, and it degrades people."

All in all that was a pretty good article (FROM The Atlantic NO LESS!!!). He really admits and illustrates the overindulgences of all 4 Americas. The people who love to say "it's only on the internet" should do well to read about Just America in that article

The start of his conclusion and his last paragraph are great

Each offers a value that the others need and lacks ones that the others have. Free America celebrates the energy of the unencumbered individual. Smart America respects intelligence and welcomes change. Real America commits itself to a place and has a sense of limits. Just America demands a confrontation with what the others want to avoid. They rise from a single society, and even in one as polarized as ours they continually shape, absorb, and morph into one another. But their tendency is also to divide us, pitting tribe against tribe. These divisions impoverish each narrative into a cramped and ever more extreme version of itself.
I don’t think we are dying. We have no choice but to live together—we’re quarantined as fellow citizens. Knowing who we are lets us see what kinds of change are possible. Countries are not social-science experiments. They have organic qualities, some positive, some destructive, that can’t be wished away. Our passion for equality, the individualism it produces, the hustle for money, the love of novelty, the attachment to democracy, the distrust of authority and intellect—these won’t disappear. A way forward that tries to evade or crush them on the road to some free, smart, real, or just utopia will never arrive and instead will run into a strong reaction. But a way forward that tries to make us Equal Americans, all with the same rights and opportunities—the only basis for shared citizenship and self-government—is a road that connects our past and our future.
 
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Kento

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This is how disconnected the various factions of our country are


For Reagan and the narrative of Free America, it meant freedom from government and bureaucrats. It meant the freedom to run a business without regulation, to pay workers whatever wage the market would bear, to break a union, to pass all your wealth on to your children, to buy out an ailing company with debt and strip it for assets, to own seven houses—or to go homeless.

The author writes as if those are bad things
There are some sub-Saharan republics where you can live this dream. That cobalt won't mine itself. While you might think in the Libertarian Unrealized Ideal that you would be said kingpin or captain of industry, most likely you would be a serf at best. :socrazy:

Besides, that philosophy above only works in dreamland: an altruistic society where material wealth is not considered a benchmark of success and greed does not exist. Good luck with that one.
 

Ifallalot

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There are some sub-Saharan republics where you can live this dream. That cobalt won't mine itself. While you might think in the Libertarian Unrealized Ideal that you would be said kingpin or captain of industry, most likely you would be a serf at best. :socrazy:

Besides, that philosophy above only works in dreamland: an altruistic society where material wealth is not considered a benchmark of success and greed does not exist. Good luck with that one.
:rolleyes:

You're talking about feudalism

Material wealth is a benchmark of success in any kind of society and greed will always exist. That's irrelevant to any form of government

That's why progressives are so keen to try and take from those who are more successful than them in the name of "equity"
 

Kento

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:rolleyes:

You're talking about feudalism

Material wealth is a benchmark of success in any kind of society and greed will always exist. That's irrelevant to any form of government

That's why progressives are so keen to try and take from those who are more successful than them in the name of "equity"
And what do you think happens when you concentrate the wealth into a few people and have a massive underclass? Apple and Google will be giving you your corporate town dreams. Lord Bezos to give you your allotment of gruel (Impossible McRibs) for your 100 hour work week.

Exactly my point about material wealth - the form of government you revere plays to the worst qualities of greed. It's where you get Shkreli and things like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal

I am OK with a general laissez-faire approach with the caveat that if you lie, cheat, steal, maim, and/or kill to get a few extra dollars, you are subject to economic and/or physical liquidation as punishment.

What's funny is you are far more of an idealist than even the most purple haired of progressives.
 
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Ifallalot

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And what do you think happens when you concentrate the wealth into a few people and have a massive underclass? Apple and Google will be giving you your corporate town dreams. Lord Bezos to give you your allotment of gruel (Impossible McRibs) for your 100 hour work week.
Wealth concentration is more apt to happen when the billionaire class has various regulations and licensing protecting them via cronyism

I am OK with a general laissez-faire approach with the caveat that if you lie, cheat, steal, maim, and/or kill to get a few extra dollars, you are subject to economic and/or physical liquidation as punishment.
I'm always down with that
 

Kento

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Wealth concentration is more apt to happen when the billionaire class has various regulations and licensing protecting them via cronyism
You must have me wrong because I am a firm believer in supporting small, local businesses instead of conglomerates. Punish the living fuck out of outsourcing. Unfortunately, with cronyism, as long as there is money, there will be favors. Scything the tall poppies, while satisfying, can get out of hand. Exhibit A: Haiti.

I'm always down with that
:jamon:
 
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