As the country continues its witch-hunt cries against socialism, Lake Minnetonka Liberty shares an argument with an old college friend. “I was not surprised, but quite dismayed, that this intelligent young man with much promise actually believes without reservation that socialism is what we must evolve to, as a nation, because ‘conservatism is selfish’.” An interesting thought, perhaps, but one the author certainly doesn’t adhere to. “I tried very hard to explain to him that taking from Peter to pay Paul is stealing, even if you put the face of altruism on it. It is still stealing.” Of course, he also claims we “have a level playing field, in that we all are born with the same freedoms in this country, and any inequity occurs after we start making choices in our lives.” What do you say, folks — true, or not?
Browse MNSpeak
Posts tagged “socialism”
The Socialist Mayor of Minneapolis
Apr 23 2009 — 2:22pm
There’s a bit of a kerfuffle in the RNC now, as their chairman, Mike Steele, won’t call Obama a socialist, but instead a “collectivist.” Since this absurd accusation of socialism won’t seem to simmer down (and it should have when the New Republic put it firmly to bed), I thought I would take this moment to remember a fellow named Thomas Van Lear, who actually was a socialist, and was Mayor of Minneapolis. As it happens, the Minnesota Historical Society has some very good articles about our socialist mayor in PDF form: Minneapolis and the Pragmatic Socialism of Thomas Van Lear; A Frustrated Voice for Socialism; and a fascinating article about socialist draft resisters in Minnesota during WWI that discusses Van Lear. The poor guy served only one term: With the start of WWI, his opponents campaigned claiming that Van Lear wanted to Germans to win the war, as discussed in the article Loyalty as a Political Weapon.
The votes aren't there. That's why he (and the Democrats) hasn't pushed it. They're going to need 60 votes to pass it in the Senate. Specter has fa...
Latest comment — noodleman: Gosh, it's sooooo much easier to read thoughts and ideas when they are arranged and organized in paragraphs. Hint. Hint.