I really wish I didn't have to spend so much time thinking about politics.
Even though I never cared for George W. Bush, I admired one thing he did when he first took office. Despite the fact that he had lost the popular vote, despite the fact that the whole Florida thing cast a major shadow on any "mandate" he might have had, Bush set out to govern as if he had won by a landslide.
He knew he wasn't going to get much out of the opposition, so he set out to do what he planned to do.
After all, our politics have been so toxic for the last 20-30 years that both parties spend more time thinking about the next election than about what they're doing in the current term. It's why President Obama can't get much Republican support; the GOP is afraid that if they help him accomplish things, he'll win even bigger next time out.
There have been many times I've been tempted to forget politics. When I named this Website, I intended to write about everything but politics. Unfortunately, politics does matter in our daily lives. I'm collecting an extra 13 weeks of unemployment checks because the stimulus bill passed Congress. So I can't say the stimulus bill didn't matter; my job loss in the catastrophic cuts by American newspapers in the last year and a half hasn't hurt me as much as it might have.
Admittedly, there are those -- Rush Limbaugh comes to mind -- who see what Obama is trying to do as anti-American, but it seems to me that unless you think the most important thing about our country is free-market capitalism, it's tough to make that jump.
French President Sarkozy thinks one of the priorities to be addressed at this week's G-20 meetings is reforming capitalism. I don't know if that will happen -- I sort of doubt it, in fact -- but when I see that 70 percent of American families are doing no better than just getting by, I think it's a question worth asking.
Our economy did pretty well from 1933 into the 1980s with a government-regulated free market. Plenty of folks got rich. I'm not sure that what we needed to do under Reagan, Bush and Bush was to repeal the New Deal.
So here's my question.
Is capitalism the most important freedom we have in America?
I'd love to hear what you have to say.
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3 comments:
Capitalism is an important "choice", but not nearly the most important right.
Freedom to speak your mind is crucial -- and one of the most threatened.
There's stories about actress Angie Harmon being a racist is exactly why we need to examine what is happening in our country.
I have met Harmon on several occasions. We don't necessarily see things alike, but she has always impressed me as open and honest and caring.
Two days ago I read a series of articles accusing her of being a bigot and of racism -- all because she said she didn't like what President Obama was doing in office. She criticized his actions as Chief Executive.
She never mentioned race or even the Democratic party -- she spoke only of economic policies.
yet there are many who see any criticism as wholly inappropriate.
the "Thought Police."
Forgive me, Mike for my own soap box stand, but the freedom to think and ss=peak our mind without fear of slander or worse yet, character assassination is one of our most dear and most endangered freedoms.
Heck, I'm a Democrat who voted for Obama and I don't agree with a lot of what he's doing.
I would never give money to bankers or lawyers, but he okayed it and stands behind it.
We'll never see that money again.
Does that mean I'm a racist.
It has NOTHING to do with his skin color or ethnicity or his party affiliation.
Yet I wonder if I were famous (or even infamous) if such a statement would warrant my character assassination?
No, I have to say freedom of speech (as a right) and the right to seek redress of grievances are among our most important freedoms.
My name is EARL.
Yeh, it's me again, striking another blow for freedom believers everywhere.
Your question doesn't make sense.
Capitalism is an economic system -- freedoms are the liberties citizens enjoy (or don't have in repressive regimes.)
Capialism, like all economic systems, has strengths and weaknesses.
Its strengths outweigh its weaknesses, but that doesn't mean it ought to be able to function without safeguards and accountability and regulation.
Protect the sheep from wolves is a phrase that comes to mind.
For those who advocate unrestrained capitalism -- predatory capitalism -- I have but one response: go get in a time machine and go back and live in Nazi Germany.
They had a capitalistic society that was managed by a predatory "socialist" regime that allowed unrestrained predatory practices by those favored by the state (Hitler and company)
For capitalism to work, there must be safeguards.
There's very old expression my grandfather used to tell me: the right to swing your hand ends where my nose begins.
Maybe he had something there worth considering.
If predatory practices in any economic system interfere with the citizens' basic liberties and rights, then that system MUST restrain the predatory practices.
In a contest of rights versus profits, rights must persevere.
Which is why I wonder if enough attention was paid to the state of Connecticut condemning some peoples' well-maintained houses and businesses so the city could advance a special building project that could only become a reality if the nice homes and businesses were condemned as "blighted."
Eminent Domain is the triumph of capitalism over individual rights and ought to be sharply curtailed.
The rights of every citizen can only be curtailed with the exercising of liberties interferes with the expression of similar rights by others.
JANE in POMONA
Good post, Jane.
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