YOU CAN'T SUBPOENA ME I'M THE PRESIDENT

Originally Posted by Jochie

Also, isn't it the desire for personal prosperity that causes a majority of the injustice in society? Correct me if I'm wrong. It's not so bad to give to other people, by the way. In high school, at least where I live, kids are required to perform community service. I think it's healthy.

Could you elaborate about how you see social welfare as the US's downfall? I won't necessarily disagree and call you a fucktard. I'm just curious.

Capitalism does suck when it's licking consumerism's ass all day and night.

You are very right. It's not so bad at all to give to other people. That's why there are thousands and thousands of charities that recieve billions of dollars in donations every year and why the vast majority of entreprising poor people opportunities to better themselves that are vastly superior to anything that was available even as recently as 100 years ago.

The mistake that Socialists ( and Democrats and Republiccans and every other political party ) make is the belief that because they should have the right to make everyone else pay for what they want. Socialists want perfect income equality; instead of buying land in Montana and forming themselves a nice commune, the vast majority of them want to get to get others to subsidize their lifestyles. Democrats want free healthcare and retirement benefits; instead of donating to charities themselves to make that happen, they force everyone else to pay for it. Same thing goes for Republicans, Greens, whatever. But that's for another thread.

I think the point that a lot of people are missing in this whole executive privilege debate is the fact that Bush did not come up with this theory. Washington first used an argument very like executive privilege (although it was not called that back then) to deny papers relating to his negotiation of the Jay Treaty with England to the House. Presidents Jefferson, Eisenhower, Nixon, and Clinton all invoked executive privilege. Many of them had to back down from their positions once a court ruled against them. Maybe the same will happen to Bush. But to say that Bush should be impeached for this is nothing short of batshit crazy insane.

Much help from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_privilege in the above paragraph.

How ya doing, buddy?

Hmm. Not to get off too much on a tangent here, but socialism doesn't seem like a brilliant idea. I mean, one of the ideas behind socialism is income equality, right? Won't this negate the average citizen going above and beyond the call of duty? Won't this sterilize the need for competition, one of the things that has made America what it is today economically? Won't it completely piss off Phoenix Night? You're goddamn right! I kind of understand PN's reasoning for not appreciating Socialism...

Anyways, I don't think America will ever become Socialist in nature. I think our country will continually get more liberal, but there will always be a legitimate number of conservatives to ensure that this never happens.

To remain on topic, the current administration feigns "executive privilege" to run things in accordance to a very centralized political scheme, sometimes involving kidnapping diplomats in countries where it isn't allowed (CIA in Italy), killing lots of civilians and most recently, not providing documents to an inquiring court.

Its clear that current administration's tactile stupidity is making many Republicans realize that liberalism seems much more appreciable, possibly converting them. In my eyes this is a fault of the Republican party for nominating such fools.

How ya doing, buddy?