From: lip@s1.gov (Loren I. Petrich)
Subject: Re: Weinberger's Pardon
Organization: LLNL
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 06:41:12 GMT

In article <1993Jan11.002649.24403@mtu.edu> pecampbe@mtu.edu (Paul Campbell) writes:
>In article <10JAN199314321870@oregon.uoregon.edu> dreitman@oregon.uoregon.edu (Daniel R. Reitman, Attorney to Be) writes:
: In article <1993Jan10.060854.20847@mtu.edu>,
:  pecampbe@mtu.edu (Paul Campbell) writes...
: >No. It's not. Although the name has changed (they call themselves
: >liberals in this country), communism by any other name (socialism,
: >American Liberalism, or Marxism) is the same thing.
: 
: Dear Mr. Campbell:  I believe you have fallen into Richard Armour's definition
: of "communist".  "Americanism . . . anyone who disagrees with you."  Armour, It
: All Started with Columbus (19__), at ___.
>
>No. I relied on Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Frederic Bastiat, Jean-Jacques
>Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Edmund Burke, and several
>American philosophers such as Jefferson, Webster, Washington, Madison, and
>Lincoln.

	Often quoted out of context, it seems to me.

: >          The 2nd Plank:  A HEAVY PROGRESSIVE OR GRADUATED INCOME
: >TAX.

	[from Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto]

: >[translation: IRS]
: 
: May serve other purposes as well.  A fair tax burden in government financing,
: thereby preventing pre-French Revolution conditions, for example.

>Our government has found that the most effective way to control a person is
>not by the the ballot or the bullet, but rather by the 'bucket'.  Today, in
>a country that fought a revolution to rid itself of a repressive government
>and excessive taxes, government takes 40 percent of everything we earn in
>the form of taxes.  - Byron C. Radaker, Chairman and C.E.O., Congoleum Corp.

	How is that "control" when one will be taxed no matter what
one does? And Americans aren't taxed as much as the citizens of many
other industrialized nations are, so he is clearly crying in his beer.

	Everybody I've ever known about doesn't like being taxed. But
what is the alternative to taxation? A toothless government? Does
anyone want anarchy?

	And for those who feel that a large fraction of tax money goes
to welfare cheats, check the official figures. A large fraction goes
to Social Security and similar entitlement programs. And do you wish
to renounce _that_? And let us not forget what every good right-winger
thinks we never have enough of: the military. How is _that_ to be paid
for?

	It's one of the great entertaining things about right-wingers:
they want a BIG military machine, but they don't want to pay for it.

: >          The 7th Plank:  THE EXTENSION OF FACTORIES AND THE
: >INSTRUMENTS OF PRODUCTION OWNED BY THE STATE AND THE BRINGING INTO
: >CULTIVATION OF LAND AND THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE SOIL GENERALLY IN
: >ACCORDANCE WITH A COMMON PLAN.
: >[translation: too many licensing agencies to even think about]
: 
: American regulation has no central theory.  And if there's any planning in the
: American economy, it's done by the corporate sector.
>
>Look at the USDA as an example. This agency tells you when to plant, where
>to plant, what to plant, and how much. Every farmer has to file a petition
>to allow them to farm every single year. That's not regulation.

	I've never heard of _that_ claim, so if you wish to be taken
seriously, then prove it. I do know of price-support programs that
involve limiting how much total acreage of certain crops like tobacco
and peanuts (I don't quite remember) may be planted, something which
the farmers seem to like (competition is limited, so they can get high
prices).

: >          The 10th Plank:  FREE EDUCATION FOR ALL CHILDREN IN PUBLIC
: >SCHOOLS.
: >[even 'private' schools must follow government regulations]
: 
: And what's wrong with a guaranteed education for all?  The primary purpose of
: regulation of private schools is to insure minimum standards.

>There is nothing wrong with guaranteed education. The primary purpose of
>regulation in private schools USED to be minimum standards. Now, the
>standards are used to control what private schools can and can't teach.
>Also, keep in mind that there is a difference between indoctrination and
>education. While I was in High School, they took great pains to
>indoctrinate me to revisionist history and political correctness.

	What qualifies as "revisionist history and political
correctness"? Anything other than the John Birch Society view?

-- 
/Loren Petrich, the Master Blaster
/lip@s1.gov
Newsgroups: misc.legal,talk.politics.misc,alt.president.clinton