Breaking: Pennsylvania Police Officer Attacked And Shot 7 Times With Own Gun-----Muslim In Custody

[WillowTree]

So, once you have your legalized drugs will users have to steal money to buy them? Crime. Or will you expect the taxpayer to subsidize their habits?

 

[HenryBHough]

I think The Democrat Party just found their Hillary replacement!

 

[MikeK]

Perhaps you should think in terms of a successful society where occupants share the same traditions, values and laws. You are talking about changing the traditions from capitalism where working for your own growth and success is changing. It used to be that people accepted the responsibility for themselves and their success. In socialism, there is no real success and little personal responsibility, for those who are successful will bear the responsibility of those who do not add to the community. In time, they. too will run out of resources and become one of the people waiting for a check from the government when it is burdened with a lower tax base.

While the U.S. economic system is commonly referred to as capitalist, that designation is in fact an erroneous exaggeration. If our Country did in fact function as a fully capitalist entity, i.e., laissez-faire capitalism, slavery would still be a thriving practice, there would be no unions, the average wages would be around one fourth their present rates and there would be castles and palaces overlooking slums with nothing in between. There would be no middle class.

The same exaggeration applies to the notion that the U.S. should adopt a socialist economy and system of government. No significant public figure has ever suggested that and you should disabuse yourself of that idea. The fact is our fundamentally capitalistic system has been regulated by certain socialist controls, which is the reason for the existence and success of the Great American Middle Class. The cause of the current decline of the middle class has been the gradual removal of those socialistic regulations which began with the Reagan Administration's imposition of "trickle-down" economics, which turned out to have a siphon-up effect which has produced the One Percent.

The point I am making is while we should not adopt a socialist system we definitely do need to modify our capitalist system by the imposition of certain socialist policies.

So don't allow shadow government propaganda convince you that the left wing wants to transform the U.S. into a socialist society. This is nonsense and it certainly isn't true. Capitalism with some socialist regulation is the way to go -- and proof of that was the phenomenal success of our economy that occurred from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s. De-regulation was the cause of the decline we are seeing now.

 

[Jackson]

Arresting people for murder does not stop murder. Should we legalize murder then?

Is it really that hard for you?

The point I was making is were it not for the utterly useless, totally counterproductive drug war and the way it is being managed, this shooting would not have occurred. Nor would millions of other wholly unnecessary acts of violence and mayhem have taken place. Also, billions of taxpayer dollars would not be wasted year after year if a more intelligent, productive approach to the problem of drug abuse were taken.

Isn't it obvious to you by now that law-enforcement is not the way to deal with abuse of recreational drugs?

It might help you to understand the situation if you'd consider that cigarette smoking, which involves ingestion of one of the most addictive substances known, nicotine, was reduced by more than 75% within five years after the public education program was launched -- and it didn't require arresting anyone.

When I started smoking cigarettes in 1951 nearly everyone I knew smoked them. I managed to kick that tenacious addiction in 1985 because of the intelligently managed public education program that opened my eyes. My lungs are clear and healthy today, and today I don't know anyone who smokes. Again, it didn't involve arresting anyone to achieve that, nor was there any violence associated with it. And again, it is a medically established fact that nicotine is more addictive than heroin.

So what are your thoughts on the subject now?

I would agree with you but there is a drug education program. Just look at the list of celebrities that hit the headlines that involve drug overdoses. There's drug education in schools. But that doesn't stop the allure of illegal drugs. I guess we just have to watch the people die and someone just may think that drugs are not the answer.

 

[MikeK]

I would agree with you but there is a drug education program. Just look at the list of celebrities that hit the headlines that involve drug overdoses. There's drug education in schools. But that doesn't stop the allure of illegal drugs. I guess we just have to watch the people die and someone just may think that drugs are not the answer.

Are you acquainted with the kind of drug "education" which is common in those schools which have such programs (not all schools do)? I am, and most of it is laughable at best.