re: How many on this board are Democrats and what is your opinion of the Socialists?

I’d say that the continued existence of the American farmer, the US banking industry, and the airline industry is a good indicator of success. Again, I’m not saying it’s right or it’s wrong, but it is at its core a socialist concept.

And to answer your specific question (ignoring PPP loans, State and Local stimulus funding, EIDLs, etc) in addition to the airlines and airports, CARES Act provided financial relief to the livestock industry, hospitals, the DIB, higher education.

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I’d say that the continued existence of the American farmer, the US banking industry, and the airline industry is a good indicator of success. Again, I’m not saying it’s right or it’s wrong, but it is at its core a socialist concept.

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You really think the continued existence of the banking, airline and ag industries is due to government intervention?

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And to answer your specific question (ignoring PPP loans, State and Local stimulus funding, EIDLs, etc) in addition to the airlines and airports, CARES Act provided financial relief to the livestock industry, hospitals, the DIB, higher education.

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So we needed the government to spend trillions so our industries could survive the government, not the free market. It wasn't the free market that had businesses shut down and everyone hiding from a bug.

And that leads me to my overriding point. Even if we assume the government has our best interests in mind (which is crazy, but I'll play along to make the point), it has about a .900 batting average in making things worse, not better, and being totally blindsided by unintended consequences.

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I would consider myself a democrat now. Have voted Republican in the past but not anymore since maga took off.

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No reasonable argument can be made that maga has “taken off” further right than the democrats have left.

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I think the word socialist and socialism has kind of lost all meaning with how the right tries to weaponize it.

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Mao, Stalin, Chavez, pol pot, castro, Ho Chi Minh, Kim jong il, Che guevara, Nicolae Ceausescu, lesser known (but very violent) leaders in Ethiopia, Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe.

Yeah, the right has really weaponized the movement.

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Lazy people like socialism....and that's a fact.

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No, lazy people like welfare. Lenin said, let them who don't labor, don't eat. Those who think Socialism will take care of them for nothing are in for a rude awakening.

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Thanks for the reply, Tigers.

Medicare is broke. Unfunded liabilities through the roof. Healthcare here is expensive because of cost shifting (because of medicaid, medicare, and them ungodly mountains of red tape piled on by government) and because of how fat and unhealthy Americans are.

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Just seeing this. Medicare and medicaid are not perfect, but I do think they have a lot of good things. I would like to see a very basic version of medicare expanded with the ability for paying a higher tiers kind of like they do now that can give people what they want. I believe it would be cheaper overall than our current system. In a way, I wish businesses would pay higher salaries and stop paying any premium for people so everyone can see the true cost of healthcare.

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Mamdani flat out said that his end goal is to seize the means of production. Mamdani is the darling of the Left. Is seizing the means of production now not considered socialism?

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I don't agree with lots of what Mamdani is doing. I don't want someone that far left, but NY did so whatever. Just like there are plenty of nut job mayors of small towns but because they are small towns, nobody pays attention to them. He just happens to be one in a major city. It doesn't affect 99.999% of the people here's lives so I'm not sure why they care so much. If anything, we should applaud letting cities and towns do what they want and not trying to force your belief on everyone just because you believe you are right. I don't agree that government should take control of production.

I changed because MAGA has shown they are no longer the party of small government and conservative fiscal responsibility. That was the only reason I ever voted republican and they have 100% lost their way.

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Last question; Why is it your belief that the government doesn't rake in enough money already? DeSantis has lowered spending 4 straight years and is now going to abolish property taxes for a lot of homeowners here in Florida. NY state's government spends TWICE as much as Florida, yet has 3 million FEWER people. So again, why do you think any government needs to rip taxpayers off even more?

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I think it can and should be both. I think there is room to fix some broken items in the government to reduce some waste. I don't believe the way is what Trump tried to do earlier with Musk just gutting everything and then have to go back and fix it once some things were broken and actually did need funding after all. I haven't followed too much of stuff in Florida as it doesn't really affect me, but if the government can run efficiently with lower spending, that can be a great thing. I know Florida is very very low on the average teacher salary in the nation which sucks. I don't agree we should lower standards for teachers(which they have done) so they don't run out of teachers. If they paid more, it could be better. There is a lot of administration bloat in education that should be the focus, not teacher salary.

I don't see taxes as ripping taxpayers off. I see it as providing a service that some or many could need. The government builds and maintains roads, structures, schools, etc. But not every single person uses everything. I believe an educated society is better for everyone so I do want education funded properly. I am bothered by LA and TX forcing the 10 commandments in schools and now TX forcing teaching the bible in classes as well(until the SC hopefully strikes it down since it is common sense).

To put it another way, just because I'm a democrat, it doesn't mean I suddenly support every aspect of the democrat points. I would like to see a good effort to reduce the deficit. And I do think it will take scaling back a bit as well as higher taxes to do it. We are just in too big of a hole by both parties. We have been in near endless wars for the past few decades, and spending like crazy everywhere we can. Unfortunately, it is time to pay the piper.

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Three pages in, and only one has even attempted to justify the ideology they support.

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and we have darth_vader saying this

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Anyone who calls themselves a socialist but denies being a communist is like a dude who likes to suck dick saying he isn’t gay.

And speaking of communists, the only good communist is a dead communist.

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That he thinks anyone who is a socialist should be dead. You can't wonder why many people don't show up more to this board. We have people on the right wishing death on anyone on the left. This is how this board became so much of an echo chamber.

Socialism is just for people who haven’t figured out they’re really Communist yet.

It’s like a metamorphosis stage of life. Take is as a signal.

When they realize their fuzzy programs don’t work, they blame others and spiral into Communism to force it to work.

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We have people on the right wishing death on anyone on the left.

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Have you seen “the left” lately?

A good communist...is a dead communist.