I Hate the Government

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I think the problem with that is the contempt for the average joe is that they're the ones most likely to call someone fa***t and so they're weary of the power of such ignorance. I know that the ignorance of the masses is where much of my contempt for the average joe comes from.

I was a Ron Paul supporter and saw the starts of the whole Tea Party movement and as soon as Ron was done with his campaign, I was done because I saw the trainwreck coming with that group. The Tea Party is being more and more changed from its original libertarian messages to simply being the same as the Neocon message but with more emphasis on deregulation (only the mega corporation markets, conveniently enough) and less spending (normally ending up in less spending for schools and social programs that help the poor, conveniently enough). They certainly don't push the libertarian agenda with regards to the war on drugs or the wars going on in the Middle East or reigning in the overbloated defense budget that so reeks of secrecy that no one is really quite sure how much they get, how much is actually used, and how much is lost. I have no respect for the Tea Party because it's the same thing that's always been wrong: the people miss the message and follow along like sheep with what the TV tells them to think (or they let others do their "research" for them) rather than actually doing any research and thinking for themselves.

I'm a big fan of Noam and also Howard Zinn (RIP). I don't always agree with them and their takes on things but they at least do their due diligence on materials and legitimately challenge the status quo.

Don't hate the government, hate the people behind the government - the Illuminati. Modern politics and economies are designed to repress and enslave.

How are they illuminated people?

I refer to the super-elite. The top echelons have access to immense knowledge, secrets, and networks. Hence, they are illuminated by their power, wealth, knowledge, and wisdom. They sound like perfect, benevolent leaders, do they not? I'm afraid that they're anything but.

Don't get me wrong I despise the Tea Party as well, but think there is an opportunity for the left to bring some of those people to our side, because if we don't then the haters move in. I agree with a lot of what you said especially pointing out the connection between the deficit and astronomical spending on instruments of death and destruction, something most deficit hawks never even mutter. I guess when it comes down to it I'm a incurable humanist though and believe that people are capable of much better but haven't been nurtured to see the importance of civic duty. That and I'm just thoroughly pissed off at democrats who except for a couple of social issues push more of the same, same, same, and they're not really great on the social issues either, he'll Argentina just legalized gay marriage and they have a lot of machismo. I don't want to necessarily romanticize the average joe either.

I'm something of a first amendment absolutist, so I definitely think the examples you gave are protected speech. Obviously, they are not appropriate language for a school setting and I abhor that kind of sentiment myself, but the use of the words itself don't need to be restricted in a free society. Yes, they can be criticized to holy hell, as any sane person should, including myself, and a school should not allow that kind of language. But someone using an offensive slur or insulting someone's religious belief or lack thereof is not a crime against the state, and there should be no legal repurcussions for that.

Obviously, words hurt, and as aspies, we all (at least most of us I would assume) have bad experiences with people insulting us and bullying us. But I would rather endure a hurtful insult if the alternative was to have said person insulting me arrested. I'd like to see him (or her) disciplined by the school system for once, but not arrested.

I disagree with most of your arguements, but I agree that everyone should hate government. Better yet, we can't be complacent with government. If we do, we become sheep, and people like Hitler or Stalin can take power.

In Convertible Pesos, perhaps, but they are paid also in Cuban Pesos (far more) and they get a ration booklet. Some goods can only be obtained with Convertible Pesos - when they export stuff abroad or get tourists over they get hard currency from that and they use it to buy imports on the global market. They create Convertible Pesos to match the hard currency they have and pay people small amounts of it to buy some "luxury" imports. Tourism sector workers can get more convertible pesos from the tourists so they can get more of those things which of course causes an imbalance there.

"To be GOVERNED is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To be GOVERNED is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be placed under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed; then, at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, vilified, harassed, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonored. That is government; that is its justice; that is its morality."

-- P. J. Proudhon, General Idea of Revolution in the Nineteenth Century

Since the embargo they have also engaged in organic farming out of necessity and that has provide a good diet for them, as for the medical system it's not perfect but it is remarkable for a poor nation. Some of the troubles facing it are due to the embargo such as lack of essential medicines. They send doctors abroad to nations even poorer than Cuba, and the doctors by and large are into helping people.

Cuban doctors are responsible for the improved health statistics in Haiti since 1999 when the programme began.

I was merely pointing out what statistic the right wing uses to claim Cubans to be desperately poor, by counting their earnings in hard currency and hard currency only.

I have a few thoughts, so forgive the stream of conciousness.

The word, "government," is a bit loose; and I think it is wrong to conflate government and politics. While elected politicians sit at the pinnacle of public policy making, they are not the government. If you take the narrow view that government is, in fact, the Executive branch, then the legislative branch is not a component of it. On the other hand, if you take the broader view that all three branches are components of government, then elected politicians make up on a small component of it.

Hating government is, to my mind, a counter-productive sentiment.

Government is necessary--there are some things that simply cannot be done effectively without participation of the public sector. Further, there are some things that are so sensitive, that they should not be left to the private sector. Finally, there are some things that are intrinsic to government, such the the creation of public law.

If one accepts that government is necessary to a peaceful and well-ordered society, there still remains the very valid question of the activities of government. Every public policy decision should be founded on the question, "is there a proper role for government in this issue?" But coming into that decision with a prejudice against government colours the consideration of that question.

Yes, but Noam Chomsky isn't simmering with hatred and contempt for everyone.

The Tea Party is lock, stock, and barrel owned by Fox News, Sarah Palin, Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and their right-wing propaganda machine. Tea Party activists are not really amenable to progressive ideas. For liberals to reach out to Tea Party activists, they'd have to compromise their agenda beyond recognition. That said, perhaps liberals could do more to reach out to the demographics the Tea Party and Fox News appeal to. In part, it's cultural differences. Liberals tend to be more urban, and conservatives are more rural. In the rural United States, guns, church attendance, and the like are big parts of the culture, and many of the little rural towns are not very diverse. In cities, guns are mostly used in the commission of crime.

It's human nature to belittle the "outsider" group, so liberals take it out on Tea Partiers, who are, after all, their political competition.

To be fair, we regularly made treaties with them, only to violate them and to forced relocations when we found out the land we gave them had something of value. Ever wonder why most Indian reservations are such dumps? There's nothing they can capitalize on to be prosperous.

It's also author Thomas Frank's argument "What's the Matter with Kansas," Right wingers are able to shift the rural attitudes even more so onto diversionary tactics such as gay marriage, guns, and abortion because the democrats lack the true populism that Kansas once called home. Rural campaigning did manage to get a democrat elected here in Missouri, but she sucks though. Some of those racist and homophobic tendencies are definitely inherent in rural society, but we are dealing with a group of outsiders in their own right. Rural America has been hammered hard.