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The Conservative columnist, George Will, is a delight to read. I do not always agree with him, but I am in awe of his prose and the sharp cutting edge of his logical arguments. In today's column he discusses the coming of the VAT, a subject that has been recently discussed in this forum. He seems to say that it is inevitable, butpours cold water on my idea that it should eliminate the income tax. He says we shall continue to have both!His discussion is replete with appropriate numbers and a gloomy prediction about my group--retirees. Asusual he make one think about his own ideas and that is a very very good thing. As I said--he is a delight.Members of this forum will no doubt share my pleasure in reading the article even if the reasons may not be quite the same.
+1. Will is terrific. Also likely right… I don't see the gov't giving up one source of revenue for another when they can have both.
+1. Will is terrific. Also like right... I don't see the gov't giving up one source of revenue for another when they can have both.
Merely confirms our fears that the grabbing hands all that they can. This is why it's best to fight tooth and nail against tax increases; it's far easier to raise taxes than it is to scale them back.
I would tend to agree that if we get the VAT the income tax will remain. The people will get poorer while the government appropriates the capital to itself, to mangle Marx a little. It's actually kind of a reverse Marxism. Marx thought the redistirbution of wealth would happen naturally when one day everyone got infected with the “fairness” bug or the “fairness” fairy sprinkled magic dust on everybody.
I would tend to agree that if we get the VAT the income tax will remain. The people will get poorer while the government appropriates the capital to itself, to mangle Marx a little. It's actually kind of a reverse Marxism. Marx thought the redistirbution of wealth would happen naturally when one day everyone got infected with the "fairness" bug or the "fairness" fairy sprinkled magic dust on everybody.
What an unusual and poetic way of describing his thoughts. I agree. Being a bit unworldly, never really having a job and lacking capital, he was convinced that man was perfectible and in his own self interest would agreethat a classless society would not only be fair, but less dangerous, more benign and do away with all thepesky rules imposed by government. I found it strange that when I first read in him--not too much as he is really dense as you know--he made no provision, once the dictatorship of the Proletariat had withered away, for any police force to nudge the miscreant members of his brave new society back into line if there was pushing or shoving in line or lust in the dust on the farm. As was mentioned previously, perhaps he spent too much time in the British Museum and not enough in the slums of London examining the raw material for his workers paradise here on earth.
... he was convinced that man was perfectible and in his own self interest would agree that a classless society would not only be fair, but less dangerous, more benign and do away with all thepesky rules imposed by government.
Something we all would like to agree with.
...I found it strange that when I first read in him--not too much as he is really dense as you know--he made no provision, once the dictatorship of the Proletariat had withered away, for any police force to....
Too convinced that man was perfectible; an idea(l) man, not a detail man, IMHO.
... perhaps he spent too much time in the British Museum and not enough in the slums of London examining the raw material for his workers paradise here on earth.
A place where the draining of the swamp would definitely be trumped by being hip deep in alligators; people would be far too busy surviving to care much about anyone's interests but their own.
Personally, I think The Communist Manifesto at least should be required reading in American schools with a strong suggestion to read Das Kapital. I agree that Kapital is fairly dense readfing but the Manifesto is not too bad and for all the looniness of his ideas he does a fairly decent job of summing up his program in it.But then, I think 1984, and Animal Farm should be required reading too.
Good ideas. I didn't have the tenth graders read the Manifesto but did a lesson based on the 10 point program at the end. It was an eye opener for them. 😮
Personally, I think The Communist Manifesto at least should be required reading in American schools with a strong suggestion to read Das Kapital. I agree that Kapital is fairly dense readfing but the Manifesto is not too bad and for all the looniness of his ideas he does a fairly decent job of summing up his program in it.But then, I think 1984, and Animal Farm should be required reading too.
There are places in this country where if you tried to teach the tenants of Communism you would run the riskof being fired. This is probably less true now than when I went to High School. We were taught almost nothing about the beliefs of "the adversary" except that it was bad, un-American and we would probably be drafted toprovide a shield against Communist ambitions to challenge our hegemony.Also: Many people think George Orwell was a Communist just as many people think our President is not a citizen, ossibly a muslim and perhaps the anti-Christ. I read most of Orwell's books and find his prose tobe lucid and thought provoking. Years ago there was a TV program with Jan Sterling and Edmund O'Brienin a teleplay of 1984. Scared the living daylights out of me, but I did go and get the book which was even better if less scary.
Good ideas. I didn't have the tenth graders read the Manifesto but did a lesson based on the 10 point program at the end. It was an eye opener for them. 😮
Wally: Your administrators are to be lauded and you are a brave fellow. Kudos!You will better be able to defeat your enemy if you know what he is all about--e.g. ULTRA
There are places in this country where if you tried to teach the tenants of Communism you would run the risk of being fired. This is probably less true now than when I went to High School. We were taught almost nothing about the beliefs of "the adversary" except that it was bad, un-American and we would probably be drafted to provide a shield against Communist ambitions to challenge our hegemony.
I am a big believer in Sun Tzu's Maxim about "know your enemy".
Also: Many people think George Orwell was a Communist just as many people think our President is not a citizen, ossibly a muslim and perhaps the anti-Christ. I read most of Orwell's books and find his prose to be lucid and thought provoking. Years ago there was a TV program with Jan Sterling and Edmund O'Brien in a teleplay of 1984. Scared the living daylights out of me, but I did go and get the book which was even better if less scary.
I have not seen the older film but I have seen the British version that came out in 1984(I used the Wikipedia link because Imdb always makes my computer crash). It is especially important that people become familiar with Orwell because of the ubiquity of references to the book in popular culture, specifically Big Brother and the "War is Peace, Peace is War' bit.I don't think Obama is a Muslim or the Anti-Christ just a worthless president like Carter but slightly worse for being farther to the left and more collectivist. I really think that he believes most Americans are too stupid to make their own decisions. He tries to cover his contempt for citizens with lofty speeches and empty words. It helps that he is a charismatic speaker but then, Hitler was charismatic too and not very good for his country either. I am not comparing Obama to Hitler except in their Oratorical abilities. I dont think Obama is quite as megalomaniacal as Hitler was, though sometimes I think he is just as dangerous in a different sort of way. He is kind of like an evil Neville Chamberlain in his foreign policy and grasps for domestic control like Woodrow Wilson.
Willy, the Picture is not of a Waffen SS member but a member of von Paulus' 6th Army outside of Stalingrad, e regular Wehrmacht troop. If I remember the story behind the photo correctly, the kid in the picture was getting ready to go back into the Red October Tank Factory in the northern part of the city when the picture taken in October of '42.
