Wheat/“/“/“ wrote: ↑August 1st, 2020, 10:39 pm
The overriding issue for me is he may be the last president capable of keeping the country from sliding into socialism. if we reach that tipping point, I’m afraid there is violence and revolution in this country’s future.
I’ll be happy to reply to anyone who wants to try and convince me to change my mind, or question my choice, as time permits.
First of all, I am a recent invitee, as well, and I likewise want to thank CBB for asking me over. And I want to thank you, Wheat, for joining in. Engaging with folks you disagree with is the heart of democracy, IMO, and the number one mistake made in the U.S. is demonizing and refusing to even discuss politics in certain settings, so I appreciate your willingness to engage.
Second, I want to say that I have to intention of trying to change your opinion. And my motivation in questioning your choices is to understand them. We'll never find common ground if we don't understand each other's point of view.
With that in mind, is there any chance you can clarify the passage quoted above? It paints with a very broad brush, so I'd be curious if you can offer opinions on specific issues that you see as possibly moving us toward any tipping point into what you call socialism, and indeed, what it is that think socialism actually is.
For example, does the Affordable Care Act (ACA, Obamacare, whatever) qualify as a step toward socialism? If so, what about it is most "dangerous", from your point of view. I mention that one specifically because Republicans made that a major priority at the start of Trump's term and came within one vote of repealing it entirely. Moreover, the biggest issue taken with that legislation concerned the so-called "individual mandate", a means-tested tax penalty for not purchasing health insurance. That strikes me as the most "anti-selfish" part of the legislation (as per the Prager video you posted later) because it asks those who can afford to do so to independently purchase insurance of their own or compensate the population (represented through the government) for failing to do so. Yet, this provision was the most reviled part of what is now generally considered popular legislation, and is something the current administration has succeeded in removing. Now the administration has joined a lawsuit framing the mandate as the pillar provision of the law and seeking to strike the entire legislation down now that the mandate has been reduced to zero.
Do you approve/disapprove/or hold any relevant opinion relating to any part of that law?
Are there are other specific items that you feel Biden stands for that threaten to push the government over the top and into socialism? I'd be very interested to hear what they are and why you feel they push us too far in that direction.
Again, thanks for joining in.