"Rick....you are the nonsmartest person in the history of this website."
Nonsmartest, eh? I guess I can take that. I've obviously had alot worse said about me.

Beyond that, I'd like to say that there was more in those last two posts to stitch liberalism and socialism together than I could have done in a lifetime. I really thought socialism was dead. Now I see it lives on, masquerading as something different.
Thank you... for yet another thing to consider in November

Touting those "socialist" nations as either completely socialist (moving towards socialism, ok, maybe) or successful is laughable. For the most part Western Europe's economic outlook is horrible, distantly trailing us (and everyone else in the industrialized world) in growth and employment. Our standard of living and productivity (a dirty word in socialist circles) is much higher. And, they're teetering on the brink of an entitlement bankruptcy that'll make our social security mess seem like a picnic. Canada's only upside on the rest of them is that they're next to us (and part of NAFTA). Heck, even China's moving towards capitalism, and finally seeing some success.
Things are so bad in these wonderful "socialist" European nations, that many can't even convince their people to reproduce so they can replace themselves. For the first time in history, we may see a population collapse (in Western Europe) that wasn't brought on by disease, but apathy. (Maybe we could call this plague the "noir death"

) Truly wonderful things for our nation to aspire to.
Oh, and you're right, I don't have a political science degree. I was told (must've been by someone with a political science degree) that you're not allowed to have one of those types of degrees without voting liberal

They don't teach you common sense in higher ed anyways though, so I'll just have to get by with what I have.
Van, I can see what you're saying here
"It is human greed, ignorance and emotion that fail political systems not political systems that fail people"
but wouldn't you rather have a system (capitalism) that counts on the inevitability of "human greed" somewhere in society rather than a system (socialism) that banks on it being abolished. Power-hunger and greed can't be put away in a closet. You can't legislate them away. You need a system that accounts for them.
"Sounds good to me, if no one is in power how can we go wrong."
Van, in Utopia, I'd agree with you on socialism. It would be great. But in the real world of personal ambition, pure socialism (or anything close to it) will never exist... ever. The best you'll ever end up with is a ruling class tossing scraps to the masses, like wherever its been tried.
[This message has been edited by Rick Kuchynka (edited 5/29/2006).]