The dictionary defines an "ism" as advocating a system or denoting an ideology. Politicians will latch onto a popular one and avoid a negative one like the plague. For the public in general, circumstances reflect your attitude. If you are prosperous, keep the status quo. If times are hard, you listen and are easily persuaded. Of course, there are many types of isms. In art, you can question the sanity of cubism, but that is a subject for another day. Today, we will look at Capitalism, Socialism and what I call, Religious or if you are opposed to state and church, Humanism.
Communism
was once popular in the US. It gained strength during the depression (see above). By now, any fool must realize that the system is BS! How can all be treated equally when party members live above the masses. One only has to look at North Korea and see the hypocrisy. This is dictatorship by totalitarianism. As you can see, isms are everywhere. Time and space in this blog limits the depth of discussion.
Capitalism
is a cornerstone in the US, but it is not the only force. We administer under democracy. With that said, we have a hybrid of other ideologies and influences. Capitalism in itself, is not a political administration, but a framework for its commerce. Almost all other isms are both an ideology and political system. To me, the freedoms allowed by our society and its money influence, has caused our democracy to be a democracy in name only. We have allowed big money to oppress our citizens who are our workers. From this understanding, I will only use the term, labor.
From the very beginning of our industrial revolution, producers have used the power of government to suppress labor. Workers have tried unsuccessfully for 100 years to form a union. The continual winning of presidential elections by the Republicans, saw the change. The Democrats suddenly, became the party of labor. After FDR won in 1932, he owed labor. Frances Perkins delivered the benefits that workers receive today (8-hour day, overtime, collective bargaining and unions, unemployment insurance). Ever since then, Republicans have tried ways to counter labor (outsourcing and anti-union rhetoric) are their two favorites. However, during FDRs term, other influences appeared. The cry for old age security. Again, we can thank Perkins. She crafted our social security program. This program comes from the minds of socialists or socialism.
Republicans...
fought tooth and nail against the program. They repeated their dislike for Medicare which also came from the minds of socialism. As you can conclude, America functions under a limited form of capitalism with strong government influence, especially social leaning programs. There are many others like rent assistance, utility assistance, welfare, SSI and food stamps. Some refer to this as social democracy.
Problem?
Are these programs good? How to pay for them? Where does society go from here? We can start by asking, is anyone against social security or Medicare today? If we agree that these programs do more good than bad, and advocate to continue with them, why not more socialism? Why not spend on any economic slowdown like Keynesian's desire? By the way, this economic idea was rejected around the world when first introduced. Now, everyone follows it.
This is a problem for America today. Free higher education? Forgive all loans to students. I'm against any form of any of these ideas. How about the continuous moratorium on rent? This is basically free rent because the renters will never pay back what they owe. This is excessively wrong!
Capitalism has its plus and minuses like any system. Generally, it works fine and is the reason man has progressed from mud huts to central heat and air. The problem is lack of the connection of religion in our society to the daily actions of its people. We don't follow our religious believes after Sunday. To limit opposition of state and church, I will use the word humanity. We need to respect each other and show our humanities. If an idea is good, then we need to find a way to incorporate it into our society. It does not matter what or where it comes from. Unemployment insurance is a good thing and yet, 32-governors voted to end benefits. They seek to force citizens to accept low-paying, no advancement jobs rather than allow them time to find a new career that provides a livable wage. We have too many weak leaders. We have two political parties who lost their way to do what is best for all Americans. We are heading into bankruptcy. The Federal Reserve should also be included under an ism. It is the ism for bankers, the rich and powerful. They are the reason we have fiat money. They allow negative budgets and the military to spend like a drunken lottery winner. At Evolution, we could knick-pick all day like the state government of Idaho. This Republican state is close to fascism. They changed their state law to suppress change in general. If you wanted to vote on an idea, the old law said that you needed 6% of your local region to get on the ballot. Now, these phonies say, one populated area will be a dictatorship to the rest of the state. This is a lie! Every county has its own elected leader. If enough of these counties feel an idea is oppressive to them, they can vote against it. However, the new law says any idea to get on the ballot needs 6% in every county. This can't be done from a grass root idea to a state organization. Fascism!
Government stimulus in down times sounds great, but Keynesians never say when to pay back debt. No nation even tries. We say, End the Fed!
