When Did The Republican Party Become Stupid?

[Kimura]

Whether the debate is over or not is a personal question. Whether you BELIEVE that it's all bullshit, or BELIEVE that the planet is warming and human industry is a contributing factor, if you BELIEVE, the debate is over for you.

The only folks for whom the debate is not over are the undecideds.
______________

Whether or not Jon Stewart has any credibility as a 'journalist' is moot - the people who voted for the congressmen featured in the clips in the O/P video should be embarrassed. At best, those committee members are playing stupid to advance an agenda, at worse, they really are that stupid.

Whether or not the planet is warming and human industry is a contributing factor is also moot, ass-u-me-ing one is not stupid enough to believe that pollution in the air is something we should just have to live (and die) with.

Did we learn NOTHING from the successful clean-up imposed on industry in the 1970's?
​

Sorry Joe,

I'm done trying to mollify those who will not accept the science. I am not discussing my beliefs here. I am discussing the science. Those who claim that climate change is not occurring and that it isn't a problem....do not get to claim equal standing with me. They are to be mocked.

The debate is over.

Those who claim that climate change is not occurring and that it isn't a problem....

What's the problem again?
Milder winters? Lower winter gas bills?
Fewer cold related deaths? That would be awful!

 

[Boss]

First of all, there isn't one hockey-stick data set of historical temperatures. There’s other data sets which demonstrate that over the last few centuries the earth has been getting warmer. This data was extrapolated and assembled from ice core samples, tree rings and other methodologies of direct measurement from around the world. Notwithstanding their locations, they all demonstrate temperatures have been rising.

Hypothetically, let’s play what if. What if the hockey stick was wrong? So what? The data assembled for anthropogenic global warming was originally extrapolated from climate mechanic studies, not reconstructive data models. The warnings about current warming trends existed YEARS before Mann’s hockey stick. Let’s say the plant was warmer 1,000 years ago, it doesn't change the fact that there’s been a sharp and dramatic increase in CO2, which explains the current trend of warming much better than any theory of “natural” warming.

In terms of the Little Ice Age or Medieval Warm Period, I would point you to NOAA.

Click Here

Notwithstanding their locations, they all demonstrate temperatures have been rising.
Every bit of credible data shows the median temperature average has risen 1 degree over the past 100 years. There are literally dozens of things which can explain this nominal increase without jumping to the conclusion man is causing it.

The warnings about current warming trends existed YEARS before Mann’s hockey stick.
Actually, they didn't. In the 1960s and 70s, I vividly recall being warned we were heading into the next ice age. In the 80s, the "crisis" was the ozone layer, because they observed a hole in it at the poles. As it turned out, man wasn't blowing a hole in the ozone layer, it just naturally doesn't form at the poles and the "hole" is normal. Of course this was after the 'chicken little' policies of the day had cost capitalists billions of dollars reformulating products and updating production.

I personally think the problem is fundamentalist wackos. Whenever you abandon God and adopt a religious faith in science, there are problems society can't deal with. Like people believing everything science theorizes as absolute truth and gospel. Because this becomes their convicted faith, they can't seem to understand that science is often times wrong about things. When science replaces God, science becomes infallible and perfect.

 

[JoeB131]

[
Nonsense. Even when you "do the right thing" you get a personal gain out of it. Your conscious is eased knowing you did the right thing. That's what makes this propaganda you've been listening to so dangerous. It's giving you this personal satisfaction of knowing you're doing the right thing, you're here daily to beat down those mean ol' conservatives all funded by the Koch Brothers.

Capitalism isn't a holy system, but it should be. We should worship something so awesome. No other system has produced as many millionaires and billionaires in the history of man.

No, there's nothing awesome ab out selfishness and greed.

Nor to I consider billionaires to be a good thing when children go to bed hungry at night.

 

[JoeB131]

And trust me, if Climatologists COULD be bought, the Koch brothers would have bought them a long time ago.
Ahh, so those climatologists who were bought and produced the fraudulent data and hockey stick graph, those were the only dishonorable climatologists, and the rest of them are incapable of being bought off? And I suppose, all other disciplines of science are being bought off, since they don't seem to be towing the line for the climatologists?

Uh, the other "disciplines" mostly agree with the Climatologists. Except the few on Corporate Payrolls.

Again, guy, i live in the 21st Century, I'm not interested in 18th century government.
Oh okay, well what you'll need to do then is have a revolt. See, we have a government which was established in the 18th century and a Constitution. To have something else, you need to stage a coup and overthrow the existing government, then you can set up a 21st century government.

Uh, no, all we need to do is pass laws and establish agencies. Sorry.

In short, Science might get in the way of your greed, so you want to ignore the science.
Are you kidding? Nothing gets in the way of my greed. But this isn't about me. It's about you, and your liberal charlatans who want to shake down big business. Shut the hell up with the science crap, there is no science, it's all made up, trumped up, exaggerated paranoia. Our fucking globe goes through dramatic changes and shifts in temperatures all the time.

Again, guy, the science is settled. But keep shining the big man's shoes, he'll recognize your toady ass some day.

Kind of like the Christian who ignores the evidence for evolution because it disproves God.
Great.. you all are like a fucking CULT! Evolution in NO WAY disproves God. MORON!

Actually, Evolution completely disproves the Abrahamic God. Man wasn't created in God's image, he evolved into the most advantageous form for his environment. .

 

[JoeB131]

really, you found this out AFTER you made all yours and is now retired? capitalism was good to you then I bet
as if we haven't been doing the right things on OUR OWN. No, we need this government to PUNISH us some more

Capitalism hasn't been anything but a shit sandwich.

And i doubt I'll ever be able to retire.

 

[Boss]

[
Nonsense. Even when you "do the right thing" you get a personal gain out of it. Your conscious is eased knowing you did the right thing. That's what makes this propaganda you've been listening to so dangerous. It's giving you this personal satisfaction of knowing you're doing the right thing, you're here daily to beat down those mean ol' conservatives all funded by the Koch Brothers.

Capitalism isn't a holy system, but it should be. We should worship something so awesome. No other system has produced as many millionaires and billionaires in the history of man.

No, there's nothing awesome ab out selfishness and greed.

Nor to I consider billionaires to be a good thing when children go to bed hungry at night.

Well capitalism isn't selfish or greedy. I've explained how they can't be greedy, it defies their purpose as a capitalist to be greedy. A capitalist seeks to continue being a capitalist so he has to please a customer. Greed doesn't please many in a business transaction. In capitalism it is anathema to success be too greedy.

Part of pleasing your customer is image. The most successful corporations realize this. That's why you have DuPont sponsoring public broadcasting, or you see where something was made possible by a grant from so-and-so. Large companies routinely participate in charity, are strong in their community support with Partners in Education programs, sponsor scholarships... all kinds of benevolent things. This all falls under "public relations" and is part of their image.

You see... a SUCCESSFUL capitalist does not want to be perceived as "selfish" by a potential customer. Again.... anathema to capitalism. Are there some greedy and selfish people practicing capitalism? Sure... there are greedy and selfish people aren't there? We find them in every facet of society, so why wouldn't some capitalist also have these attributes? The point is, they will never be great and successful capitalists because the chickens will eventually come home to roost. Are there capitalists who break the law and commit fraud? Sure... we're supposed to punish those people by sending them to prison and we do.

I [don't] consider billionaires to be a good thing when children go to bed hungry at night.
I disagree. It is the billionaire who holds the secret to how an American can not go to bed hungry at night. Some of them even started out that way themselves and this motivated them to be successful and become a billionaire.

When I was a young man, while most of my friends were looking at their dad's Playboy collection, I was at the library checking out books on people like Getty, DuPont, Ford, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Howard Hughes.... I wanted to know about these people, to learn what they did, how they became successful and wealthy.

One of my first jobs as a young man was at an Italian eatery, Mando's. It was operate by a guy named Armando... Mando for short. Now, Armando was not italian. He was cuban. He came here in 1957 or 58, fleeing a revolting Cuba. He was basically a refugee. He had no money, nothing but the clothes on his back. He worked as a busboy at several restaurants but managed to work his way up at this one Italian place. He became the manager and eventually managed several locations. When the owner retired, he offered Mando the opportunity to buy him out, and so Mando had saved up his money and was able to own his own business.

His story doesn't end there, it only begins. He struggled the first several years, had to close all but one location. He focused himself on making that the best location anywhere for Italian food. BOOM. His efforts paid off and he made a fortune.

If this man can do it, anyone can. That has been an inspiration to me my whole life.

 

[Kimura]

Click Here[/QUOTE]
Notwithstanding their locations, they all demonstrate temperatures have been rising.
Every bit of credible data shows the median temperature average has risen 1 degree over the past 100 years. There are literally dozens of things which can explain this nominal increase without jumping to the conclusion man is causing it.[/quote]

We're looking at 0.8 degree Celsius since about 1880-ish. Since 1975, for example, two-thirds of warming has occurred at or around 0.15-.20 degrees celsius per decade.

A global change of one degree is important because it takes massive quantities of heat to warm land, oceans, the atmosphere, etc. All is took was a one to two degree change to sent the planet into the Little Ice Age. A five degree drop resulted in the vast majority of North America under a copious amounts of ice 20,000 years ago.

The warnings about current warming trends existed YEARS before Mann’s hockey stick.

Actually, they didn't. In the 1960s and 70s, I vividly recall being warned we were heading into the next ice age. In the 80s, the "crisis" was the ozone layer, because they observed a hole in it at the poles. As it turned out, man wasn't blowing a hole in the ozone layer, it just naturally doesn't form at the poles and the "hole" is normal. Of course this was after the 'chicken little' policies of the day had cost capitalists billions of dollars reformulating products and updating production.

It's undoubtedly true there were some predictions about an ice age in the 1970s, but those warnings compared to today are night and day. There was tiny amount of scientific speculation based on glacial cycles and some of slight cooling that occurred as result of air pollution blocking sunlight. We didn't have copious amounts of data or papers being published back them. We had no UN commissions, no institutions, etc. You could have found more of a consensus on a sighting of Lindbergh baby.

Today, there's a scientific consensus, supported by national academies and the major scientific institutions around the world, including the CIA and US military, which all get behind the assembled data that temperature is increasing, anthropogenic CO2 is the primary, and it will only get worse until we decrease emissions. I really don't understand why this causes cognitive dissonance among certain ideological segments of our population. It's not even a big deal, it can be dealt with.

personally think the problem is fundamentalist wackos. Whenever you abandon God and adopt a religious faith in science, there are problems society can't deal with. Like people believing everything science theorizes as absolute truth and gospel. Because this becomes their convicted faith, they can't seem to understand that science is often times wrong about things. When science replaces God, science becomes infallible and perfect.

Science doesn't require faith or belief, quite the contrary. Since deals with and studies natural phenomena in the observable universe, so it cannot confirm or deny the existence of God if that makes sense. I think about half of scientists claim a religious affiliation of some sort.

People tend to get confused when a scientist says he/she believes in X or Y hypothesis or theory. What they mean is that he/she accepts X or Y idea, that he/she thinks said scientific idea is the most accurate bases on the evidence. Scientific ideas are accepted and rejected based on the assembled evidence for them or again them. Belief, faith, dogma, etc. aren't part of the scientific method in any capacity.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Whether the debate is over or not is a personal question. Whether you BELIEVE that it's all bullshit, or BELIEVE that the planet is warming and human industry is a contributing factor, if you BELIEVE, the debate is over for you.

The only folks for whom the debate is not over are the undecideds.
______________

Whether or not Jon Stewart has any credibility as a 'journalist' is moot - the people who voted for the congressmen featured in the clips in the O/P video should be embarrassed. At best, those committee members are playing stupid to advance an agenda, at worse, they really are that stupid.

Whether or not the planet is warming and human industry is a contributing factor is also moot, ass-u-me-ing one is not stupid enough to believe that pollution in the air is something we should just have to live (and die) with.

Did we learn NOTHING from the successful clean-up imposed on industry in the 1970's?
​

Sorry Joe,

I'm done trying to mollify those who will not accept the science. I am not discussing my beliefs here. I am discussing the science. Those who claim that climate change is not occurring and that it isn't a problem....do not get to claim equal standing with me. They are to be mocked.

The debate is over.

Those who claim that climate change is not occurring and that it isn't a problem....

What's the problem again?
Milder winters? Lower winter gas bills?
Fewer cold related deaths? That would be awful!

Milder winters, lower winter gas bills and fewer cold related deaths would be a good thing.
Seriously.
Despite your serial confusion.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

really, you found this out AFTER you made all yours and is now retired? capitalism was good to you then I bet
as if we haven't been doing the right things on OUR OWN. No, we need this government to PUNISH us some more

Capitalism hasn't been anything but a shit sandwich.

And i doubt I'll ever be able to retire.

Kill the greddy kulaks, eh comrade?

 

[Boss]

Notwithstanding their locations, they all demonstrate temperatures have been rising.
Every bit of credible data shows the median temperature average has risen 1 degree over the past 100 years. There are literally dozens of things which can explain this nominal increase without jumping to the conclusion man is causing it.

We're looking at 0.8 degree Celsius since about 1880-ish. Since 1975, for example, two-thirds of warming has occurred at or around 0.15-.20 degrees celsius per decade.

A global change of one degree is important because it takes massive quantities of heat to warm land, oceans, the atmosphere, etc. All is took was a one to two degree change to sent the planet into the Little Ice Age. A five degree drop resulted in the vast majority of North America under a copious amounts of ice 20,000 years ago.

One degree in 100 years. That's what we have, whether or not man is causing it. In the past 18 years, we've not had warming, it has been getting cooler. If it continues on the current trend, we won't be having a 1 degree increase for the century. There are dozens of factors other than the greenhouse ceiling. There is the Sun and sunspot activity. There are volcanic eruptions. Solar flares. Not to mention all the assorted cyclical climate patterns we have on Earth.

The warnings about current warming trends existed YEARS before Mann’s hockey stick.

Actually, they didn't. In the 1960s and 70s, I vividly recall being warned we were heading into the next ice age. In the 80s, the "crisis" was the ozone layer, because they observed a hole in it at the poles. As it turned out, man wasn't blowing a hole in the ozone layer, it just naturally doesn't form at the poles and the "hole" is normal. Of course this was after the 'chicken little' policies of the day had cost capitalists billions of dollars reformulating products and updating production.

It's undoubtedly true there were some predictions about an ice age in the 1970s, but those warnings compared to today are night and day. There was tiny amount of scientific speculation based on glacial cycles and some of slight cooling that occurred as result of air pollution blocking sunlight. We didn't have copious amounts of data or papers being published back them. We had no UN commissions, no institutions, etc. You could have found more of a consensus on a sighting of Lindbergh baby.

Today, there's a scientific consensus, supported by national academies and the major scientific institutions around the world, including the CIA and US military, which all get behind the assembled data that temperature is increasing, anthropogenic CO2 is the primary, and it will only get worse until we decrease emissions. I really don't understand why this causes cognitive dissonance among certain ideological segments of our population. It's not even a big deal, it can be dealt with.

Hogwash. You're now citing "UN commissions" as if they are some kind of scientific authority. These are diplomats, not scientists. Same with the CIA or military. No one is "getting behind" global warming anymore. It's dead. It's cognitive dissonance to continue insisting man is causing some catastrophic overheating. It's just not happening.

It's silly to even think man is capable of emitting too much CO2. If you took all the human-made emissions from all of history, and all human-made emissions man of the future will create for the next 100k years, you will have approximately the equivalent to ONE major volcanic eruption. Now, we have a major volcanic eruption about once every decade. This has been happening forever. With a single volcanic eruption, there is more CO2 dispersed than man has produced since the Industrial Revolution.

personally think the problem is fundamentalist wackos. Whenever you abandon God and adopt a religious faith in science, there are problems society can't deal with. Like people believing everything science theorizes as absolute truth and gospel. Because this becomes their convicted faith, they can't seem to understand that science is often times wrong about things. When science replaces God, science becomes infallible and perfect.

Science doesn't require faith or belief, quite the contrary. Since deals with and studies natural phenomena in the observable universe, so it cannot confirm or deny the existence of God if that makes sense. I think about half of scientists claim a religious affiliation of some sort.

People tend to get confused when a scientist says he/she believes in X or Y hypothesis or theory. What they mean is that he/she accepts X or Y idea, that he/she thinks said scientific idea is the most accurate bases on the evidence. Scientific ideas are accepted and rejected based on the assembled evidence for them or again them. Belief, faith, dogma, etc. aren't part of the scientific method in any capacity.

Oh you need to talk with Joe then, he just told me that Evolution disproves the God of Abraham. And you need to check your own self as well, here you are presenting science to support your INSISTENCE there is man made global warming. So if science doesn't require faith and belief, why do you have so much faith and belief in this science? Can't it be wrong?

If we are going to say that science isn't a belief, dogma, faith, etc. We must admit that science does not 'conclude things as fact.' Because as soon as science has done this, there is no more science, there is only faith and belief in your conclusion. You see, it is MAN who concludes things as fact.' This is based on faith and belief in the science. But the science never concludes.

 

[Politico]

When Did The Republican Party Become Stupid?

Around the same time all the Democrats stuck their heads up their asses.

 

[AVG-JOE]

Capitalism isn't a bad thing in and of itself...

It's unfettered, unregulated, industrialized capitalism that fucks things up.

True Story! ​

 

[JoeB131]

[

Well capitalism isn't selfish or greedy. I've explained how they can't be greedy, it defies their purpose as a capitalist to be greedy. A capitalist seeks to continue being a capitalist so he has to please a customer. Greed doesn't please many in a business transaction. In capitalism it is anathema to success be too greedy.
.

Guy, i'm not going to plod through your whole fucking word cloud in praise of greed. Lots of people work hard their whole lives. My Dad came back from WWII, got a union job, worked hard, raised five kids, build a vacation property he was quite proud of.

ANd then he died at 56 because some greedy Corporate Asshole neglected to tell him the Asbestos he worked with every day as a sheet metal worker was a carcinogen.

Now, while you might embrace the "I've got mine, fuck you" mentality, the reality is that when you have 40% of the population with less than 1% of the wealth, while 1% controls 43% of the wealth, and those numbers get worse every day, social upheaval is inevitable.

Captialism might work for you, or at least you pretend it does, but it doesn't work for most people and there's only a matter of time before you get someone who makes Obama or HIllary look like Little Mary Sunshine.

 

[Boss]

Guy, i'm not going to plod through your whole fucking word cloud in praise of greed. Lots of people work hard their whole lives. My Dad came back from WWII, got a union job, worked hard, raised five kids, build a vacation property he was quite proud of.

Well I didn't praise greed. I explained how greed is never part of successful capitalism. I also didn't say anything about working hard. Most capitalists who have become wealthy work harder than your dad. You see, a capitalist doesn't have a union spokesperson. There is no one there to say you can't work more than 48 hrs. a week, or you have to be paid double overtime, or you get 6 weeks of family leave time per year. The capitalist goes it on his own.

ANd then he died at 56 because some greedy Corporate Asshole neglected to tell him the Asbestos he worked with every day as a sheet metal worker was a carcinogen.

Was that Corporate Asshole aware of the danger? If so, your dad is eligible for compensation. But you see, capitalists are not wizards or psychics, they can't see into the future and know things like asbestos being a carcinogen, they don't know until it is discovered. Now, if they are negligent, the law is very specific about that, and people win billion-dollar lawsuits every day because of it.

Now, while you might embrace the "I've got mine, fuck you" mentality, the reality is that when you have 40% of the population with less than 1% of the wealth, while 1% controls 43% of the wealth, and those numbers get worse every day, social upheaval is inevitable.

Captialism might work for you, or at least you pretend it does, but it doesn't work for most people and there's only a matter of time before you get someone who makes Obama or HIllary look like Little Mary Sunshine.

I don't embrace a "I've got mine, fuck you" mentality, I embrace a "I've got mine, let me show you how to get yours" mentality, that's why I am posting a response to your stupidness. All those percentage arguments you just reeled off, they are from Chairman Mao and the People's Revolution.

If you admit, the numbers are getting worse every day, then that means people are getting rich every day. Do you have a problem with people getting rich? More importantly, do you believe wealth and prosperity are limited resources? When you start regurgitating Maoist claptrap, it sounds like you believe wealth is limited, we only have so much and there will never be any more. We create wealth and prosperity, it is unlimited. The only percentage that matters is this... 100% of Americans live in a country where they are free to pursue their dreams and become wealthy.

 

[Boss]

Capitalism isn't a bad thing in and of itself...

It's unfettered, unregulated, industrialized capitalism that fucks things up.

True Story! ​

Well, we don't really know this, it's never been tried in this country. Since the birth of the nation we've had some degree of restraint, regulation or bridle on capitalism. We've passed 200 years worth of laws to further regulate and restrict capitalism. As long as we have a constitution with a commerce clause, we'll have some regulation on capitalism.

What fucks things up are liberals running around screaming "unfettered capitalism!" fettering up capitalism some more. If we could somehow unfetter some of the capitalism liberals have trussed up the past century, we could produce even more millionaires and billionaires. But somehow, it has become a bad thing to get rich.

 

[JoeB131]

I don't embrace a "I've got mine, fuck you" mentality, I embrace a "I've got mine, let me show you how to get yours" mentality, that's why I am posting a response to your stupidness. All those percentage arguments you just reeled off, they are from Chairman Mao and the People's Revolution.

Um, no, they are established facts from the US Census Bureau.

If you admit, the numbers are getting worse every day, then that means people are getting rich every day. Do you have a problem with people getting rich? More importantly, do you believe wealth and prosperity are limited resources? When you start regurgitating Maoist claptrap, it sounds like you believe wealth is limited, we only have so much and there will never be any more. We create wealth and prosperity, it is unlimited. The only percentage that matters is this... 100% of Americans live in a country where they are free to pursue their dreams and become wealthy.

Yes, wealth is limited, and unfairly distributed. and you can scream Maoist and Communist all day, but frankly, there's only so long people will keep eating the shit sandwich you guys serve.

The Capitalist is a parasite that has convinced stupid people it's a vital organ.

 

[Boss]

I don't embrace a "I've got mine, fuck you" mentality, I embrace a "I've got mine, let me show you how to get yours" mentality, that's why I am posting a response to your stupidness. All those percentage arguments you just reeled off, they are from Chairman Mao and the People's Revolution.

Um, no, they are established facts from the US Census Bureau.

Doesn't matter where your data comes from, the notion that the rich get richer faster than poor people and they control all the wealth, is Maoist claptrap. It was used by Mao Zedong to work Chinese peasants into a frenzy so they would overthrow their government. They did, it was called the "People's Revolution" ...Mao's policies (like yours) were all about helping the people, getting rid of those evil capitalists, spreading the wealth. Result: 70 million dead Chinese. $1 a day avg. wage.

Since you are so into the US Census Bureau, here is a graph you need to see...

,
This shows us several things. First, the wealthy are getting wealthier, the number of wealthy families is growing. Second, the middle class is declining, as you often love to point out... but where are they going? The poor families are actually down from 1967, so the middle isn't joining the poor. What's happening to the middle class? That's right, they are becoming wealthier. So are the poor.

If you admit, the numbers are getting worse every day, then that means people are getting rich every day. Do you have a problem with people getting rich? More importantly, do you believe wealth and prosperity are limited resources? When you start regurgitating Maoist claptrap, it sounds like you believe wealth is limited, we only have so much and there will never be any more. We create wealth and prosperity, it is unlimited. The only percentage that matters is this... 100% of Americans live in a country where they are free to pursue their dreams and become wealthy.

Yes, wealth is limited, and unfairly distributed. and you can scream Maoist and Communist all day, but frankly, there's only so long people will keep eating the shit sandwich you guys serve.

The Capitalist is a parasite that has convinced stupid people it's a vital organ.

Wealth is not limited. If it were, you could only have so many millionaires and billionaires. We would never be able to overcome recessions, depressions, economic downturns and disasters.

There is nothing unfair about the distribution. In fact, in America, it is more fair than any system ever devised by man because it allows entrepreneurial capitalist freedom.

You are right about the people only taking so much but wrong about who is stupid. History shows, if you preach propaganda about the "greedy capitalists" long enough, you can spark a revolution like Mao did in China. More stupid people are born every day. But in America, even the stupid have the freedom to create wealth beyond their wildest expectations.

 

[JoeB131]

Sigh. Hey, guy, the China of 1976 was a superpower. the China of 1949 was a battered mess of a country. I mean, if you really want to scream about Mao, maybe you need to actually talk to some Chinese, who rate him up the way we do George Washington or Abe Lincoln.

 

[Boss]

Sigh. Hey, guy, the China of 1976 was a superpower. the China of 1949 was a battered mess of a country. I mean, if you really want to scream about Mao, maybe you need to actually talk to some Chinese, who rate him up the way we do George Washington or Abe Lincoln.

Well that's because they lived under his brutal despot rule for 40 years. All those big giant pictures you see, the people painted those in tribute and honor to Mao. Again... he was a hero before he was a ruler in the eyes of the people. To this day, years after his death, you find many Mao loyalists among the people. People, largely, who are stuck in dismal poverty making $1/day and a bowl of rice.

In 1976, China was a superpower because of it's size and military. Mao militarized most all youth in the population. But you have to go further back to discover how Mao built such a formidable army. You see, his policies toward capitalism were to round up all the capitalists and wealthy, seize their wealth, and put a bullet in their head. So we have his first years as the most brutal dictator to ever live, where he amassed a huge War Chest.

Wow... a True Liberal Hero right there!

Then, after Mao had killed off all the people who were capitalists, who knew how to create wealth through capitalism and prosper.... those people are gone now, they are no longer an asset. Government has replaced capitalism. Profit goes to the government and the government will act in it's own greedy self interests. The problem in a dictatorship is, there is no recourse. If you don't like the policies of government, you are going to die a young man in most totalitarian regimes.

This is why the average Chinese makes so much less than the average American. China only began any kind of economic climb following Mao, when a completely new generation of reformists came in and re-introduced capitalism. Until then, they were a joke... they still are, in some circles. Ever heard the expression "Made in China?" Ever thought about what that really means?

I don't have to scream about Mao, there are countless history books out there, he is one of the most studied individuals to have ever lived. I think he is the Progressive Godfather or something. The man killed over 70 million people, took their wealth and assets, and built the biggest socialist clusterfuck you could ever imagine.

 

[JoeB131]

Guy, you need to put down the Bircher Propaganda and maybe read a history book.