I must say seeing you, Xandrith, Zombie, etc. spell out conservative thought in a way that's actually coherent is a breath of fresh air. Fundamentally, I don't agree with it, but at least the conservatives responding here aren't brainwashed idiots like those who I encounter on Facebook and occasionally Reddit. I probably spent as much time studying the politics of Europe as I did the United States during my undergrad, so I've been able to see the good and the bad of both broad current political ideologies. I admire much of what Western Europe does in regards to healthcare and making sure there isn't an insane disparity in the distribution of wealth, and feel the United States can learn a **** ton about how a government can take care of its citizens to ensure they have a good general standard of living. If you care where my personal ideologies lie, I can tell you I took that political compass test someone posted a while ago, and was firmly in the bottom left quadrant. I've agreed with pretty much every comment that @MULLERTJE has posted in regards to how ridiculous it is how **** our government is at ensuring that every person has easy access to the very basic standards of living. No one can reverse the effects of Social Darwinism, but I do believe it is the government's duty to make sure that the people tossed to the bottom aren't left to completely fend for themselves.
First of all, America has a ridiculously high stadard of living that has steadily increased over time. The "poor" among us today still have cellphones, flat screen tv's and houses. Second of all, The people who are "tosses to the bottom" are for the most part left to fend for themselves, because a capitalistic society grands a ridiculous amount of opportunity and wealth to go around. I've said it before and proved it before, if you stay poor in America, it's your fault, not your Governments. Here are 5 statistics via The Daily Wire that absolutely prove that quote "Free-market capitalism has literally done more to eradicate real, inflation-adjusted poverty than any other socioeconomic system. Ever." 1. The number of people living in extreme poverty worldwide declined by 80 percent from 1970 to 2006. People living on a dollar a day or less dramatically fell from 26.8 percent of the global population in 1970 to 5.4 percent in 2006 – an 80 percent decline. It is a truly remarkable achievement that doesn't receive a lot of media coverage because it highlights the success of capitalism. "It was globalization, free trade, the boom in international entrepreneurship," American Enterprise Institute (AEI) president Arthur Brooks said in a 2012 speech. "In short, it was the free enterprise system, American style, which is our gift to the world." 2. Poverty worldwide included 94 percent of the world's population in 1820. In 2011, it was only 17 percent. What is even more incredible is that the global poverty rate was 53 percent in 1981, causing the decline from 53 percent to 17 percent to be "the most rapid reduction in poverty in world history." "Since the onset of industrialisation – and as a consequence of this, economic growth — the share of people living in poverty started decreasing and kept on falling ever since," wrote Oxford University's Martin Roeser, who compiled the aforementioned data. Roeser's chart illustrates this: Screenshot: Washington Examiner 3. Globally, those in the lower and middle income brackets saw increases in pay of 40 percent from 1988 to 2008. According to the Adam Smith's Institute's Ben Southwood: Those in the middle and bottom of the world income distribution have all got pay rises of around 40% between 1988-2008. Global inequality of life expectancy and height are narrowing too – showing better nutrition and better healthcare where it matters most. What we should care about is the welfare of the poor, not the wealth of the rich. 4. The world is 120 times better off today than in 1800 as a result of capitalism. The Foundation for Economic Education's (FEE) Steven Horwtiz, citing author Deidre McCloskey, noted that the 120 times figure comes from multiplying "the gains in consumption to the average human by the gain in life expectancy worldwide by 7 (for 7 billion as compared to 1 billion people)." "The competitive market process has also made education, art, and culture available to more and more people," wrote Horwitz. "Even the poorest of Americans, not to mention many of the global poor, have access through the Internet and TV to concerts, books, and works of art that were exclusively the province of the wealthy for centuries." Horwitz added capitalism has also resulted in people spending "a much smaller percentage of our lives working for pay" due to the increased value of labor and has produced higher life expectancy "by decades." 5. Mortality rates for children under the age of five declined by 49 percent from 1990 to 2013. This is according to World Health Organization (WHO) data, a decline termed "faster than ever." Capitalism results in lower child mortality rates by producing better access to medicine and standards of living. In sum, the wealth and innovation spurred by capitalism has done more to help the poor than any Government ever has.
I typed a whole thing on Obamacare and why its similar to police and the debate around abortion I don't want to post it because I need to email my resume to someone and I don't need email notifications prevention > a cure but fugg now I have entered the public spere and have opened myself to responses I have not acted smartly with regards to preventing responses delet this
Bunch of nerds in here seem to have politics and economics figured out but can't make a decent map. GG
Also yeah I'm still working on the Prisoner inspiration, the map I make every Halo since Reach, and Exhibit. In that order