Radical politics?

[contracycle]

Capitalism is entirely a process of theft and must be destroyed.  It's also stupid, and will destroy our habitat if left to its own devices.

The nation-state is redundant and must be abolished; it's primary purpose is the maintenance of property rights for the benefit of the wealthy, and a standing armed force for use against the citizens.

The Western powers presently enjoying a temporary global hegemony must return what they have stolen from the third world, or die defending their ill-gotten gains.

[joshua neff]

I tend to favor the idea of a "free market," but I think making money of off another person's labor is obscene. I think people generally only really feel invested in something if they have a direct stake & say in it--so I believe workers should own the means of production. (I don't know how radical that is for a website which promotes the direct ownership & control of roleplaying games. Basically, I believe what the Forge promotes should be applied to all areas of production & commerce. No record company execs making money off of musicians. No book publishers making money off of writers. No art gallery owners making money off of visual artists. No movie studios making money off of filmmakers. No factory owners making money off of factory workers. No CEOs making money off of retail workers. And so on. But that's not really all that radical is it?)

[greyorm]

Goody! Chance to post the stuff I typed up for the other politics thread!

Pro-Life. Your choice was having sex. It's about personal responsibility, and accepting the natural consequences of one's actions. Grow up. Allowances in cases of medical necessity.

Anti-gun. The fewer people with guns, the safer I feel.

Against the death penalty. Simply isn't our right, despite our desires for revenge. Death is not justice.

Against the current prison system, because it doesn't do enough to deter or (more importantly) reform criminals.

Anti-hunting. Yes, you heard me. If not, allow me to hunt my fellow men, or why not? Hence, pro-animal rights (and human rights).

Support Gay Marriage & Adoption. A dead man whose religion doesn't mean a thing to me should not be determining the legality of this to me...clear violation of seperation of church and state.

Support bigger government & more public oversight of government.

Less "privacy," more safety -- after all, if you don't have anything to hide, what are you worried about? BUT civil liberties are important and must be maintained. That is, more surveillance, but not more control. If it keeps some deadbeat schmuck from beating his kids, I'm all for it.

Taxes are the price you pay for being a part of society and recieving its benefits. You don't like it, go live in the woods by yourself and maintain your own roads, defend yourself, provide for yourself (electricity, food, medicine, education, rights).

Remove natural-born citizenship. Require everyone in a society to go through the same citizenship tests as immigrants.

Support increases in funding to Social Welfare programs. Hire the poor and lower class and people with children to work in it, not the unempathic assholes generally currently running such systems.

Provide everyone, everywhere, regardless of whether they are working or not, with the basics to survive. Wipe out poverty, for the most part. If you want more than the basics, work harder. It's a right that a government should provide those in its care. Period. Or the people shouldn't care about the government, its rules, regulations, or existence (and lo and behold, people in such situations don't).

Require a license for having children (like driving, or carrying a weapon...I mean, for the Gods' sakes, parenting is way more important than driving). I've seen way too many kids seriously and sometimes almost irreprably fucked up by irresponsible and reprehensible parents to believe any differently. Procreation is a privelige, not a right, because not everyone is responsible enough for the responsibility, and there's too much danger for innocent bystanders (or innocent byproducts, rather) without something in place.

Higher taxes for the more wealthy -- they have the most to give back. They don't want to be a part of our society, they can go live somewhere else.

Reverse spending on the Military and Public Education. I want to see $6.2 billion dollars spent per school for a fleet of schools, sometime.

Free and decent education, for everyone, everywhere.

Free and decent health care for everyone, no matter what. It's a right that a government should provide those in its care. Period.

No religion in government. None. Natch. Nada. Shoot anyone who says otherwise. (Well, maybe not shoot, but hey...)

Ban fundamentalist extremists for the good of society -- this includes groups like the KKK and any hate-group (anti-gay groups...goodbye! Yes, this means you wacko, right-wing Christian extremists hiding behind your supposed religious beliefs).

Severely curb corporate control and influence of the government.

I completely agree with Gareth about capitalism.

Legalize drug-use. Tax the shit out of it. People who do it in the privacy of their own homes, leave them alone. Impose strict fines and jail sentences for substance abuse which injures or has the potential to injure others. If not, ban alcohol and tobacco, too (I mean, really...what's the bloody difference?).

Increased spending on science & technology, including the space program.

As I said elsewhere, basically, I'm all for enlightened, empathic, communal governance -- requiring a choice to be governed and to be a part of a society, thus acceptance of its laws and regulations and behavior that supports the functioning of that society. This benefits self and the society that supports self and others which support society.

More simply, I believe a society (government) owes its people everything, and thus the people owe their society (government) everything.

[joshua neff]

Taxes are the price you pay for being a part of society and recieving its benefits. You don't like it, go live in the woods by yourself and maintain your own roads, defend yourself, provide for yourself (electricity, food, medicine, education, rights).

I completely agree (& said something very similar in the general politics thread).

[Alan]

Some enlightening sources:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684871084/qid=1081354410/sr=12-1/103-1120798-9013449?v=glance&s=books" >The Unconscious Civilization by John Ralston Saul

Any recorded lectures by Noam Chomsky are great ways to learn.  His documentary "Manufacturing Consent" is a must.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/blackchip/the_state.htm" >The State by Harold Barclay (my Dad!)  He also wrote: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0900384840/qid=1081353527/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-1120798-9013449?v=glance&s=books"  > Culture and Anarchism and  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1871082161/qid=1081353527/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-1120798-9013449?v=glance&s=books" >People without Government

[Valamir]

Hey Raven.

How do you reconcile this:

Pro-Life. Your choice was having sex. It's about personal responsibility, and accepting the natural consequences of one's actions. Grow up. Allowances in cases of medical necessity.

with this.

Require a license for having children (like driving, or carrying a weapon...I mean, for the Gods' sakes, parenting is way more important than driving). I've seen way too many kids seriously and sometimes almost irreprably fucked up by irresponsible and reprehensible parents to believe any differently. Procreation is a privelige, not a right, because not everyone is responsible enough for the responsibility, and there's too much danger for innocent bystanders (or innocent byproducts, rather) without something in place.

I mean, if your licensing proceedure has already deemed a woman as being unfit to be a mother...what do you do when she's already pregnant?

Make the kid a ward of the state?  That doesn't really sound like a better solution to me.  And it also pretty much flies in the face if the notion of "personal responsibility".  So if not this...what?

[Shreyas Sampat]

Well, it seems like you have to consider that a crime, just like underage drinking or unlicensed driving, and have concomitant penalties, including requiring the parents to pass the licensing examinations before their child is returned to them, and possibly requiring them to monetarily support the child while it's outside their custody.

[greyorm]

Good catch, Ralph.

I could go into a lot of details, but honestly, there aren't many easy answers to that question. Enforced birth control and mandatory sterilization come to mind as off-the-cuff possibilities, with the latter being way too invasive and permanent for me (given that people change, and mistakes can be made), and the former has its own problems.

So: pregnant without a license to parent? Child goes up for adoption at birth (or before, which is how it often occurs today with unwanted pregnancies). Given the number of families out there looking to adopt, that shouldn't pose much of a problem statistically (with parentless children). Way more than there are children available to adopt right now. And adoptive parents already have to be "licensed" under the current system.

Also, option to earn one's license while pregnant.

Of course, that doesn't do anything for the personal responsibility of the offending biological parent, so I agree with Shreyas' suggestion of fines being imposed, the parent being required to provide money for the child (even out of their custody), and/or jail time be served. Basically, treat them just like regular deadbeat parents.

Honestly, that isn't as clean as I'd like, either, but today's system is hardly better (and mostly worse).

(And Jen's giving me that "Get off the computer and help me clean up before company comes over" look right now, so I'll leave it at that).

[Jason Lee]

Hmmm....

Prostitution, drugs and gambling should be legal.  That would allow them to be government regulated and taxed to high hell.

Separation of church and state should be law.  (Which is apparently a myth.  There is a big difference between Freedom of Religion and Freedom from Religion).

[Marhault]

I'd like to agree with Jack and Raven.  You should have a license to breed.

Also, I'm pro-death penalty.

[Christopher Weeks]

I tend to favor the idea of a "free market," but I think making money of off another person's labor is obscene.

Ummm....hunh?  What do you mean?  If you remove the right of people to enter work contracts in which an employer profits, how is that market free?  Your whole post seemed like it ran counter to free market theory.

Chris

[lumpley]

I discovered the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement after I'd already reproduced.  Maybe my kids will be smarter than me.

If there's going to be a license to breed, the application should require you to demonstrate that your future child will be genetically predestined to usher humanity into a new era of living sustainably within our due habitat.  Otherwise - denied.

Heh.  I actually kind of mean that.  It's not just the one-ups talking.

-Vincent

[joshua neff]

I tend to favor the idea of a "free market," but I think making money of off another person's labor is obscene.

Ummm....hunh?  What do you mean?  If you remove the right of people to enter work contracts in which an employer profits, how is that market free?  Your whole post seemed like it ran counter to free market theory.

I don't think so. "Free market" doesn't equal "making money off of other people's labor." For example, Ron own's his own RPG. He's the one who makes the money from its sales. And yet, he sells it in a free market.

And I never said I would remove the right of people to enter work contracts. I just said I think doing so is, for the most part, obscene.

[Christopher Weeks]

I know you didn't talk about legislating work for pay away, I was trying to extend the idea without putting words in your mouth.  Sorry.

If Ron isn't paying the artists a cut of his income for every sale, isn't it the same thing as what you're claiming to be obscene?

Free market != labor profiteering, but it includes it.  I think without such an institution, it would be hard to defend that the market were free.

Chris

[joshua neff]

Let me amend that: I believe in a mostly free market, not an entirely free market. At the local, small business level, I believe the market should be free. As in, imagine a farmer's market, in which all the farmers own their produce & sell it to consumers. No one controls the market--it's all based on free enterprise. But the farmers work the farm & sell what they grow.