It's not capitalism vs. socialism or communism. It's capitalism plus socialism. That is what distinguishes Republicans and Democrats. Nobody wants to nationalize industries. We like capitalism, but not without social responsibilities. Not everything should be for profit.
I don't like having a for-profit insurance company between me and my doctor. I don't like not being able to afford healthcare with its 20% plus co-pays and premiums and caps and coverage holes and coverage denials for undisclosed acne treatments 40 years prior when my medical care becomes expensive and unprofitable. I don't want my retirement stolen. We don't like corporations that pay their workers poverty wages so that they need taxpayer assistance. That is corporate welfare, the reliance of companies on taxpayer assistance for their underpaid employees.
Do you really want privatized prisons, privatized pollution prevention and clean-up, for-profit courts, privatized borders, payday lenders charging 585% interest (see Wisconsin), for-profit schools without regulations or oversight but still with public funding, privatized police and fire protection, unregulated construction and unfunded infrastructure maintenance, for-profit roads and utilities, privatized coast guard and military, unchecked monopolies, unregulated health insurance that is more like a coupon, and companies and hospitals and doctors operating with no regulations or requirements or oversight? Privatized for-profit elections (you think voter suppression and gerrymandering is bad now?). Do you approve of massive student debt? Medical bankruptcies? Bernie Madoff?
That is what pure capitalism is. A free market that is supposedly inherently moral. Companies operating without regulations because supposedly the free market will weed out unscrupulous practices. It's a theoretical fantasy because a pure free market assumes 100% knowledge by consumers. Nope, no need for consumer protection bureaus with your totally unregulated free market.
Republicans are ideologically opposed to government programs because they think private enterprise, not government, is the way to go. Their beliefs can be summed up with one word. Profits. That is what their notion of freedom boils down to.
Privatized Social Security with retirements subject to stock market crashes, thefts, bankruptcies, high admin fees and churning, and major benefit reductions because of the selling off of pension obligations when taking over a company.
I don't want a nanny state regulating our bedrooms, our bodies, and our individual freedoms, which for some reason Republicans like along with their free markets.
I don't want freedom from pollution protections, worker safety, gun safety, union protections, consumer protections, discrimination protections. I don't believe in freedom from accountability and ethics. I want clean air and water and soil. I want religious freedom in my life and in my workplace.
BTW, the for-profit courts? We have that in some areas. Collection agencies suing people that can't pay all of their court and incarceration fees, and a judge finding the debtors to be in "contempt of court" and thrown in jail (rendering them unemployed and subject to more fees). That used to be called debtor's prison.
I don't like having a for-profit insurance company between me and my doctor. I don't like not being able to afford healthcare with its 20% plus co-pays and premiums and caps and coverage holes and coverage denials for undisclosed acne treatments 40 years prior when my medical care becomes expensive and unprofitable. I don't want my retirement stolen. We don't like corporations that pay their workers poverty wages so that they need taxpayer assistance. That is corporate welfare, the reliance of companies on taxpayer assistance for their underpaid employees.
Do you really want privatized prisons, privatized pollution prevention and clean-up, for-profit courts, privatized borders, payday lenders charging 585% interest (see Wisconsin), for-profit schools without regulations or oversight but still with public funding, privatized police and fire protection, unregulated construction and unfunded infrastructure maintenance, for-profit roads and utilities, privatized coast guard and military, unchecked monopolies, unregulated health insurance that is more like a coupon, and companies and hospitals and doctors operating with no regulations or requirements or oversight? Privatized for-profit elections (you think voter suppression and gerrymandering is bad now?). Do you approve of massive student debt? Medical bankruptcies? Bernie Madoff?
That is what pure capitalism is. A free market that is supposedly inherently moral. Companies operating without regulations because supposedly the free market will weed out unscrupulous practices. It's a theoretical fantasy because a pure free market assumes 100% knowledge by consumers. Nope, no need for consumer protection bureaus with your totally unregulated free market.
Republicans are ideologically opposed to government programs because they think private enterprise, not government, is the way to go. Their beliefs can be summed up with one word. Profits. That is what their notion of freedom boils down to.
Privatized Social Security with retirements subject to stock market crashes, thefts, bankruptcies, high admin fees and churning, and major benefit reductions because of the selling off of pension obligations when taking over a company.
I don't want a nanny state regulating our bedrooms, our bodies, and our individual freedoms, which for some reason Republicans like along with their free markets.
I don't want freedom from pollution protections, worker safety, gun safety, union protections, consumer protections, discrimination protections. I don't believe in freedom from accountability and ethics. I want clean air and water and soil. I want religious freedom in my life and in my workplace.
BTW, the for-profit courts? We have that in some areas. Collection agencies suing people that can't pay all of their court and incarceration fees, and a judge finding the debtors to be in "contempt of court" and thrown in jail (rendering them unemployed and subject to more fees). That used to be called debtor's prison.
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