: Just to be picky - if it is forgotten, and if nastiness does result then it wont be propoganda or scare mongering - it will be the truth.However, Gee, your bound to realise that any ideology, idea, religion, philosophy whatever, doesnt harm people in itself. Like a fire arm, it could remain locked in a cabinet and do no harm, it's not the fire arm that kills people it's the people that kills sorta thing.
The only possible exception would be facism or the other extreme right wing competitive nonsense which is a unique melding of emotion and violent action devoid of thought and embodying a ghost of philosophic pretension.
: : The problem is that time and again Socialism has repeated the sins of liberalism, compromising principle, confusing principle, losing principle.
: I understand what you say following the above, but I get the impression from Stoller's posts that he believes socialism's principles are broken by 'modern day' socialist-liberals. Would you concur with this impression?
Oh, I definitely would not, I disagree with brother Strollers unashamed apologetics, I aim posts like this at him, that hopefully he'll realise that unlike every 'marxist' after him Marx didnt concoct any governmental or institutional blueprint and insist it was synominous with socialism and deserved violent defense. No Marx knew that once the ideological/cultural/consciousness battle had been sorted out institutional 'trial and error' would produce the correct insitutions etc.
It's something I agree with, though I dont spend my time trying to rehabilitate theorists that rightly or wrongly fill my opponents with horror when I can make the statement just aswell myself.
Incidentally liberals where the first welfare statists introducing state pensions in Britain in 1908, in Germany when the wall came down welfare spending was greater in the liberal/corporatist capitalist west than in the socialist east, in Europe the British Labour party has had to resist tax or welfare spending harmonisation because they right wing religious or liberal coalitions have far greater spending ratios than they do. Socialism and welfarism dont sit well, just thought I'd drop that in.
: I'm in a 'principles' mood lately anyway so I shall follow these threads with interest.
You havent got nothing if you dont have principles, I've been reading an anthology of the New Right thinkers recently Gee the best quotes and arguments are:
'Capitalism between consenting adults'
'Blaming capitalism for the actions of specific capitalists is like blaming the car for the actions of drunk drivers'
Not the kind of quote I hear from Frenchy etc. though. I've no problem with that, I would actually entertain the idea of a capitalist/mutualist enclave in a libertarian socialist republic it is after all the involuntary capitalism driven by drunkards that I hate the most. However that said we have drink drive laws why dont we have taxation and planning to deal with 'bad capitalism'.
