Peace,

You make it seem like EVERY business was started with government money. That's not the case. People save their money to go into business; If the government taxes less of their income, they have more money to invest. I started businesses and never had a government loan. Why should the taxpayers be on the hook for someone else's business decisions?

Hi Bill George,

My wife and I both started our own businesses without government loans. I have been self employed for 37 years but that does not mean that businesses who do need credit, and many of the ones that create the most jobs do need credit, should not be able to get that credit. It is a matter of cash flow and inventory. The banks have strangled small business. Business bankruptcies are growing at an alarming rate. This decline in our economy effects us all.

Peace,

Renegotiate home mortgages so families can stay in a house they could not afford to move into in the first place?

Sounds like a return of the zero down sub prime loan formula that destroyed the housing market.

Good job Tom!

Many families are losing their homes because some family members have lost one or more of their jobs. They may still have some income but not enough to make payments. If the banks re negotiate the loan based on the current value the family will be able to stay in the home. How is that a bad thing? Is it more important that banks own whole neighborhoods of deteriorating properties or that communities continue to serve their function of supporting families.

We got into this economic crisis because government was loaning money for homes and businesses that they were not qualified for. Here is what Tom said about that policy:

"What’s our response? It is to provide additional tax money to encourage homebuyers to purchase homes that they otherwise couldn’t afford. And we’re doing this just weeks after watching how the “Cash for Clunkers” program created the same artificial bubble in the automobile market that came crashing down as soon as that program ended.

A society in which billions of dollars are extracted from its economy by its government in order to pay people to buy stuff they can’t afford has a rendezvous with a grim accounting. And the longer these programs continue, the grimmer that accounting will be."

It may be difficult for us here in affluent Placer County to understand but there are entire neighborhoods in cities and towns all over this nation that are collapsing in on themselves. It is easy for us to say that they should just pull themselves up by their bootstraps but it is not something that we would be able to do were we in their shoes. There has been an unprecedented redistribution of wealth upwards during the last couple of decades and as much as you may resist the idea, there will be an equalization occurring. It can be done via an ordered process or not. Your choice. Resistance if futile. It is a natural order as predicted by Thomas Jefferson when he encouraged the citizenry to re order the government when it makes alliances with the wealthy to oppress the poor. The crushing poverty being inflected on more and more people in the US is not a result of any moral failings of the poor but rather the unbridled greed of the rich classes. A living wage and universal health care would be a good start towards fulfilling the potential of the US.

People don’t evaporate after they lose their homes to the toxic asset’s folder that is now owned by US tax payers. They move to what and where they can afford to live and work. And that location economically feels the impact of the new arrivals. As for their previous location, chances are that will equate to another persons situation for what they can now afford. Just because it was foreclosed on doesn’t mean it can’t be picked up. Of course the businesses suffer in the areas suffering from vacancies, perhaps they must close as well and we need to let them.

Government playing puppet master to these economic cycles does not contribute to the ability of that system to take care of itself when adjustments are needed. A free market must be allowed to function and business failures are part of markets response to correct itself.

I fear we have sold America right out from beneath our own feet and sealed our fate.

The free market is a great idea. We should try it sometime. It does not exist in this country however. The market is skewed to favor those who can buy politicians who will make laws that favor their contributors. Campaign finance reform that takes dirty money out of elections would be a first step in creating a really fair playing field where a free market could exist. We don't have that now.

I own a small business and these "pro small business" acts mean absolutely nothing to me. My biggest hinderance is government bureaucracy, over-regulation, and taxes; not the failure of government to give or loan me money. I appreciate McClintock's stand against the always-growing government. Too bad he's fighting an uphill battle against the vast majority of politicians who want to increase the government with absolutely no end in sight.

My only problem with him is tax cuts. If you vote for tax cuts without a corresponding cut in spending, you are simply voting to borrow even more money from China. We gotta pay it back someday folks. If I ran my business the way our politicians run our government, I'd actually need all those loans McClintock voted against, but then if I was like most of our politicians, I'd never have any intention of paying it back. I'd just pass my debt to my kids.

Mike your pious prediction of how the lives of families crushed by the wall street bankers will work out just fine is embarrassing in it's callousness and revealing of your lack of compassion for your fellow humans. The government already plays puppet master but it does it on behalf of wall street and the big defense contractors who contribute to the politicians. That is why McClintock votes with the bankers and against small business. The working people are the victims of this puppet show.

Auburn Tom,

I'm glad your business like mine does not depend on credit to make payroll or build inventory but many businesses have operated this way for years to control the cash flow so they can continue to provide jobs as well as services and products. The greed of wall street and the politicians they own caused that system of credit to collapse and as a result we have high unemployment and families and communities collapsing. It may not effect you right now but we are all in this together and if we don't look out we will all be in big trouble.

Want to learn how people are fighting back against the banks that wrecked our economic security? Visit http://ourfinancialsecurity.org or http://www.showdowninamerica.org

"I asked Tom about his votes against Small Business and his claim that loans to small business were as risky as the investments that precipitated the current economic collapse. He said that the SBA only loans to risky business that can't get loans from banks. That statement is incorrect."

McClintock has ridden the anti-everything movement of his party into his mean spirited line of lies that allows him to vote no on everything as a means of fighting the Right Wing Bogeyman Big Government. Big Mac capitalizes on the frustration engendered in our country by the Bushites feeding at the public trough and uses this frustration to further alienate the public from their own government, which is highjacked by Big Mac and his supporters of Wall Street and the international corporate cartel. Big Mac and his party have done everything possible to make government nonfunctional and then attacks government for being nonfunctional.

He is anti-everything especially small business and the working man and those in need of government oversight.

Only the deluded can support the Big Mac.

The Federal Reserve Banking Company is behind this. They promoted and allowed this to happen with pleasure. The Fed Reserve is no more federal than federal express. They are killing small business and working there way up.

we cannot be taken with military force. we are under an economic attack. ask yourself who holds most of our debt?????

connect the dots to see the picture.

Americans 4 Truth,

If we can agree that small business is under attack what is the logical action for us to take together to stop the consolidation of commerce into the hands of fewer and fewer people? The corporations and banks who benefit from deregulation and subsidies to corporations for moving jobs overseas and gutting of government protections for workers health, safety and wages have gotten these unfair advantages over small business because of the corrupting influence of campaign contributions to elected officials. Can we agree that a 5 to 300 dollar check off on our tax form to publicly fund elections and a ban on corporate contributions will free Congress to do the job we elect them to do and reduce the influence of bad actors like the Federal Reserve? And let's make the networks pay rent to the American people for the use of our airwaves and require them to provide air time to qualified candidates for office so they don't need to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to run for election. We can take back our country before it is run into the ground for the purpose of squeezing the last bit of profit out of us for people who already have more money then they need. I don't hate super rich people. I just know that the rapid accumulation of wealth in the hands of fewer and fewer people is a death spiral for our country.

"I don't hate super rich people. I just know that the rapid accumulation of wealth in the hands of fewer and fewer people is a death spiral for our country." If the rapid accumulation of wealth has not already done so, the US is on the road to becoming another Banana Republic with all the characteristics of a serfdom. Maybe our current economic downturn is a sympton of too few controlling too much so the unregulation of the few is at the expense of the overregulation of the many.

Small businesses are very crucial to help keep our economy afloat. The fact that large banks aren't really lending money to small businesses is a major setback. While cutting taxes is a good idea, it alone won't do much to the economy. For this reason a lot of small businesses are turning to merchant cash advances.

Fedallah - Are you sure about McClintock? I thought he was a ordinary working stiff trying to get by in hard times just like the rest of us. Why would honest folks want to support a life-long professional parasite of a politician who only wants to enrich himself and works against the best interests of his constituents? That makes no sense.

Thanks, ThosPayne! THAT is the truth about McClintock. He votes NO on everything. I think some of Placer County's Republicans need to visit places where it's not so pretty. Get out and look at the poverty. Stop denying things aren't right in our county and country! How can such a lot of folk look no farther than the ends of their own nose? Perhaps lack of opportunity was not a problem while they were coming of age and growing into whom they are today. I'd like to ask them to please: Give others some curtesy; don't assume you KNOW why someone else lost his home. Don't purport to KNOW why the single mother cannot work enough jobs to lift herself above the poverty level. I read many self-righteous replies today. You are the short-sighted people who elected the carpet bagger, McClintock.

Piece, Tom is a friend of Liberty, which is not doled out by some government agency. I am a small business owner and I support Congressman Mc Clintock's efforts to restore a sense of constitutional governance, which always should be undergirded by the concept of small government and individual liberty.

-What you are promoting is a form of despotism by which people are dependent on some government program, in order to make it. This concept is in fact alien to the spirit of liberty and independence that have defined the greatness of this country for over 200 years.

-It is, in fact drones like you who are an impediment to real progress in the business world by advocating these encroachments into the private sector that only seem to stimulate more and more government bureaucrocies, and not small business.

-How about the "get the hell out my way,so I can run my damn business,act of 2010". Now that's one that I could get behind, and I'm sure Congressman McClintock would agree.

How can a business not fail if it has to borrow for simple items like payroll? We as small business owners can't print money, we have constraints that we have to recognize if we are going to prosper. The banks have received ad nauseam amounts of freshly printed money, they have used it to prop themselves up so they can spend more money to keep their politicians in power. Obama is a puppet just like Bush, they both are controlled by Rubinomics. We need more votes against unbridled spending as it keeps getting passed hidden in bills like the military budget. Ear Marks are still an immoral way to get re-elected, even when everyone knows they still work. Nebraska and Louisiana both have benefited from legislation in the health reform bill, that other states will not receive.

As long as we allow corporations who purchase preferential treatment for themselves with campaign contributions to control which parts of government get shrunk and eliminated we will continue to see small business gobbled up by large corporations. Is that what you want? I don't think so. Tom is acting as a tool of the banks when he defends their refusal to lend to small and startup business. That type of loan is essential if working class people are to move into the middle class. Instead our middle class is shrinking at a dangerously steep rate. I don't think you can deny with any credibility that the constriction of credit has caused many small businesses to go under recently. That is a human and social tragedy and it is effecting communities (families) all over this country. Your attitude towards struggling families and small businesses, fourgen and FreedT.., is callous and uninformed in my opinion.

Sounds like you are advocating for a "Department of Compassion" within the walls of government. I guess you don't believe in the seperation of church and state. Or how about we stick to the constitution and individual liberty. A bank does not have a constitutional duty to loan you, me or anybody money. The banks have indeed been re-capitalized but are holding tight because of the uncertain economic climate and quite frankly, this bunch of dunderheads that we have running our government at present. Uncertainty breeds reticence in the financial community. This president and congress are sending all the wrong signals to the business community and the banks. This is part of the natural ebb and flow of capitalism disrupted by a major meltdown, and not a bunch of greedy corporations like your characterization. It is in the best interest of financial institutions to continue lending because that is how they make their profit. When there is a clear direction of where the economy is headed, lending practices will stablize in a more liberal fashion. In the mean time businesses must adjust accordingly. I know people that are working at Wal-Mart and Jack-In-The-Box to get by, that have lost very good jobs. They are not whining and complaining about this politician or that one. They are taking care of their families like responsible adults in a free society. You might try it sometime.

The only compassion I expect from my elected officials is for them to stop providing tax breaks for Oil Companies and Arms manufacturers and providing no bid contracts to criminals like Blackwater while they continue to tax small business and individuals at a higher rate than these campaign contributors pay. Clean up dirty elections, oust dirty politicians and stop subsidizing polluting industries and making the victims of their pollution pay to clean it up. I will keep pointing out corrupt politicians when I see them and I will provide information to back up my points as I have tried to do in the story above.

Peace also considered my fiscally conservative opinion on this matter to be “callous” and said it revealed a “lack of compassion for (my) fellow human(s).” We have hidden the effects of higher house prices for decades with mortgage-interest tax reductions, fake low mortgage-interest rates, and of course the more recent Fannie & Freddy shenanigans. The goal was to elevate house prices while at the same time wanted people to keep buying. That may work in fairy tales but not in the reality of free market economics. And now that the bubble has burst and we need real world solutions, a cry for compassionate lending needs to be rejected.

The US tax payers (some not even born yet) are going to live their lives paying dearly for the toxic assets causes by those who tried to take advantage of the “zero-down” shortcut to upward mobility. It backfired on everyone and I’m glad Tom McClintock is voting NO against the very formula that brought us to our knees.

It time to pay the bill folks...a bill that goes back decades.

Mike G,

There is plenty of blame to go around for the economic collapse but can you and I agree that the deregulation of wall street which allowed them to create non-transparent financial products was one major element? Can we agree that far reaching campaign finance reform and re-regulation and refunding of the oversight agencies is needed to prevent a repeat? Wall Street has already started to set us up for another fall. We need reform now.

"Tom McClintock is one of the most promising warriors in the fight against big government we have seen in a long time, and the special interests and big bankers know it." -- Congressman Ron Paul

peace- I see where you are coming from now; "blackwater", "oil companies", "corporations" etc. etc. etc. You are probably a "911 Truther" as well. You have been propaghandized by the looney left.

-It's really sad that someone like yourself who has had the extraordinary opportunity to grow up in the greatest country in the history of the world, can be so easily buffaloed into thinking that it is something it is simply not.

P.S. I do agree with you about Acorn and Seiu. They need to be thoroughly investigated and prosecuted for election fraud.

Quoting myself from the comments section of Sunday AJ Letters to the Editor section "Why oppose small business" in response to Aristotle,

"Many of Tom's positions are at odds with Ron Paul's positions. In the foreign policy field for instance. The statement you quote by Rep. Ron Paul was made prior to Tom's razor thin victory of a year ago over Lt. Col. Charlie Brown Retired. Ron might feel differently now if he became aware of Tom's defense of big banks. I wonder if Ron Paul would likely also be willing to let small business fail in order to shore up bank profits?"

FreedTinkerton,

You are correct in assuming that I do not subscribe the the cult of American exceptionalism. I will leave that philosophy to you and the leadership of both the major political parties in the US. My study of history brings me to another conclusion. My outlook is more aligned with the IWW and Justice William O. Douglas. No I'm not a communist. Are you denying that the disparity of income has not increased as a result of the last couple of decades of policies under both parties?

Why don't you compare the "poor" in this country to the truly impoverished people in every other part of the wolrld and you will find that not only are the standards much higher here, the poor have what we Americans call upward mobility and economic opportunity. In otherwards we don't have a static "class system". The "poor' can become rich and the rich can become poor by virtue of their own actions or inactions with refard to how they choose to utilize their liberty. That's the exceptional part.

-It is quite evident that you have not so muchbeen educated, but rather indocrinated by some of the loathsome, america-hating twits that occupy space on some college campuses. In other words, you are not a thinker but a learner. You are merely regurgitating that which you've learned, which is a deeply perverted view of truth and history.

Peace,

McClintock is a kiiten compared to what I would do to "reform" this Circus of Greed we are bleeding from.

But at least he is a cat, and cats eat rats, which spread this plaugue.

I agree to "all of the above" except I disagree with how you are suggesting these reforms take place.

You want to mandate the Banks to enter high risk lending with the Obama bucks they were bailed out with

for having already lost their shirts on similar lending practices which ended with the US tax payers (some not even born yet) suddenly owning a mountain of toxic assets it may never be able to pay off.

I see your smear campaign against McClintock for what it is.

You seem to want re-distribution of others success to the failures of others dressed up as "compassion".

Dear Freed,

My view of what US policy will result in improved economic conditions for all citizens is based on my own experience and my own research and study, not on any college education. I began apprenticing in my trade as a high school senior and never attended college except for some shop classes to improve my woodworking skills related to my trade. You missed the mark on that one. I suggest you read some books by Justice William O. Douglas. I think you would benefit from some time spent working, volunteering, to help the poor. It would give you some perspective. You too Mike.

-peace, Let me get this straight; because I don't buy in to left wing drivel, you somehow conclude that I don't volunteer my own personal time and resources to causes and/or charities that I value? You're incorrect.

-I guess in your fairy tale world, if one does not subscribe to socialistic policy prescriptions, then one is somehow morally challenged.

I not only reject that, but I am absolutely convinced that what you promote is in fact harmful to the very people you claim to want to help.

As I asked you earlier, is it not true that the policies of the last several decades have reversed the positive trend that took place during the 40's, 50's and into the 60's whereby working class people were able to move into the middle class in large numbers and provide a better life for their children than they had themselves? Has not the military industrial congressional complex that Ike warned us about in his farewell address gained more and more power and used that power to create a wider and wider gap between the rich and poor? Is not our middle class shrinking? Have not wages been frozen for decades and have not workers been forced to increase productivity without compensation? Are not families needing to hold down 2, 3, 4 or more jobs and still not be able to make ends meet. I'm sorry if I assumed that you have been under exposed to the poor. I just found it hard to believe that you don't think society has some obligation to provide opportunity other than the failed trickle down voodoo economics that brought us the current meltdown of our economy.

No.

-You are assigning a political cause to the statistical trend that you sight without acknowledging the many factors that go into such a trend that contradict your conclusions. Such as, a substantial rise in out-of-wedlock marriages, which in turn has resulted in a massive dependent class catylyzed by left leaning government policies. There is also the factor of illegal immigration, that has decemated working wages in the construction, and service industries for american citizens.

-You also fail to recognize the fact that the standard of living for those in "poverty" in the United States is actually quite high. Recent statistics show that over 70% of those living in "poverty" in the U.S. own at least one automobile, live in dwellings with heat and air conditioning. 95% own at least one color television set, cell phones etc. So let's just be honest here. We are not talking about 3rd world poverty. As a matter of fact, many in the third world are literally dying to have access to the economic system that you rail against. That is quite telling if you ask me.

If you were to ask some of the millions of families being foreclosed on and evicted if owning a car or a color tv makes the experience any less devastating they might tell you no. Former Fed. Chair Alan Greenspan admitted that what failed was an ideology that was simply wrong. The policies of deregulation of banks and tax breaks for the wealthy created a situation where special interests ruled, plundering taxpayers for subsidies for big oil, for PhRMA, for agribusiness. Privatization of the government opened up new areas for plunder with Halliburton providing the model of how to rip off taxpayers. While this plunder was going on the changes that needed to happen were ignored, like soaring health care costs and a disintegrating infrastructure. We were told that the market will eventually work things out. While we were subjected to "free trade" policies there was a gutting of regulations and protections going on with the collusion of government and special interests from clean water to labor laws.

sorry peace, you'll never get it, no matter how much evidence is presented. Your opinions are undergirded by a deep seeded anti-american bend, and naivety.(lack of real world experience). Try starting a business and having to deal with taxes and regulatory burdens and then get back to me in a couple of years. Then we might have a more productive conversation.

Great Job, McClintock! Although not all responsible and necessary decisions are fun and comfortable, they ARE necessary to get our country out of this mess. Thank you Tom MCClintock for standing up and voting correctly...and continuing to fight, study, and above all, think LOGICALLY!! You truely represent the majority of us decent, great Americans. You are not alone in your fight, we are behind you!!

Freed,

I have been supporting my family by running my own business since I was 18, 37 years. You asked for examples of corporations hurting working people. Here are two examples from this months Jim Hightower newsletter at www.hightowerlowdown.org. The Hansen corporation launched a legal assault against a small brewing Co. over the name of one of their products. Usually the deep pockets of the Corp. get what they want but this story has a happy ending because the small business fought back and supporters organized a boycott of Hansen products. The Hansen corporation backed off. Another success story is the college based group United Students Against Sweatshops who are successfully organizing boycotts against US corporations that use sweatshop labor.

Freed: Peace seems to be holding his own here, and doesn't really need my help. But I will verify that Peace has been running his own business for many years. I have been a customer of that business myself for at least 20 years. And I loved the electric car he used to drive.

- Then you ought to be supporting Congressman McClintock and his fidelity to individual liberty and private property rights, which is the absolute cornerstone of a healthy, and robust business climate.

Congressman McClintock's voting record would indicate otherwise. He has not stood up for the interests of the mass of citizens but rather for the right of the wealthy to become more wealthy.

FreedTinkerton: Try this one for size. McClintock voted AGAINSTa House bill which would exempt estates valued at less than $3.5 million from federal estate tax. In the absense of this bill that McClintock voted AGAINST, beginning in 2011, estates valued at $1 million of more will be taxed at rates of that begin at 45% and go as high as 55%. McClintock doesn't want to let you inherit the family farm or business, I guess.

If you stand against the right of the wealthy to become more wealthy, then you stand against liberty, and support tyranny. And furthermore, you are not helping the poor any in the process, who by and large, are gainfully employed by the wealthy. In other words, when you support the "wealthy's" ability to profit, then you are by extension helping the poor. McClintock stands in noone's way of becoming wealthy.It may feel good to disparage the wealthy, but it is really not very logical or productive if one believes in liberty for all citizens.

Gullible- The estate tax was scheduled to drop to 0% after the first of the year, and that is what Congressman McClintock actually wanted. But, unfortunately the democrats weren't going to let that happen, so they introduced legislation to again extend the "death tax" and make it permanent. Tom opposes that. So, you are misrepresenting the congressman's position on the estate tax, which he was actually seeking to abolish along with all of his republican collegues, who voted with Congressman McClintock. Nice try!

It is the all or nothing ideology of Congressman McClintock that you describe which contributes to the gridlock in Congress and also results in the widening of the gap between rich and poor when he and his ideological partners succeed. The wealthy are not growing their incomes at the same rate that the glaciers are melting because they are working any harder. It is a direct result of the impoverishing of the middle class. Wealth does not disappear. It has to to somewhere.

FreedTinkerton: You are wrong. Unless Congress acts, estates in excess of $1Million will be subject to Federal Estate Tax beginning in 2011. McClintock voted against the bill which will protect estates under $3.5 Million. I'm not making this up, it's the law. McClintock can spin this any way he wants, but the bottom line is that he voted against a law that would permanently exempt 99% of all estates from the tax.

No Gullible, it's you that is doing the spinning, the 'death tax' over 3.5 million was set to expire in less than one week. Tom does not support a "death tax" period, he wants it abolished across the board with out regard to the politics of class envy.

-Never underestimate the power of gridlock. The founding fathers' broke up government specifically so there would be spades of it. The less government gets done, the freeer the populous remains. It(gridlock) is a bullwork against tyranny.

-A person making a 100 million dollars does not in any way hamper my ability to go out and make 100 million dollars, if I am willing to put the time and effort into it. It's not a zero-sum game like you make it out to be. There is, and always has been boundless opportunity for anyone willing to work hard, to prosper as far as their aspirations take them in this country. That's why Cuban's make 'log rafts' and risk life and limb to make it here every single day. People that don't have liberty in their respective countries seem to understand this country far better than some who've been born into it.

When Feed are you going to respond to the question regarding why the gap is growing between rich and poor in the US and the fact that the more the type of trickle down economics you advocate gets implemented the wider the gap grows. Eventually the entire house of cards will collapse if we follow the strategy advocated by you and Tom McClintock. We tried that all during the Clinton and Bush years and it got us into the worse economic mess since the great depression. The Wall street bankers have not been put under control and they cannot control themselves. They are setting us all up for another fall. Citizens must demand regulations on banks to avoid a repeat of last years collapse.

Hi Freed,

Over in the letters section about Walmart you said, "some (Walmart employees) are developed/disabled or are new to the country, and are thrilled with the opportunity and the patience provided them by this "evil" corporation. They are able to earn a modest living while building their self esteem in the process. And if you don't understand that, then you my friend are the callous one."

Just because someone is developmentally disabled does not mean a company should not pay them a living wage. Some of them work harder than so-called fully able employees. And does being a new arrival to this country give Walmart a right to exploit them? Everyone deserves a living wage and good healthcare and we will all get those things eventually no matter what you and Tom McClintock say or do to prevent justice and yes liberty and the pursuit of happiness. People over profit will win out in the end.

It is not the employees of Walmart for whom I lack respect it is the executives of the corporation who do not deserve our respect until they start treating the people who have made them rich with the respect they deserve. Walmart claims it offers quality health plans for employees. Yet, an average full-time Wal-Mart employee on the least expensive family coverage plan must spend over 20% of their yearly income before the health insurance provides any reimbursement.

-No one is forcing anybody to work at Wal-Mart. It is strictly a voluntary action. If anyone is not happy with working at Wal-Mart they are absolutely free to quit and go somewhere else. This is what freedom is about. No one has to buy from Wal-Mart and no one has to work there. But apparantly it's not so bad because they are thriving. Wal-Mart is a classic American success story. Wal-Mart has done more to help poor people than government ever has. Where do you think working class people shop? Wal-Mart provides people on the lower income scale goods to furnish their homes, fill their refridgerators, clothes to wear, and many other products at very low prices. Think of all the money that folks are able to save, and put towards other interests because of the existance of Wal-Mart. Your thinking is typical of a statist, in that all of liberty's countless blessings allude you even though you're surrounded by their permeance. You focus on man's imperfections and that is your crusade. Your kind is centuries old and still you(the statist) is determined to wring out the imperfection's of man in pursuit of a false utopia which is a fiction of his own mind's making. Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Lenin, all of the same species, tyranny. tyranny shape shifts and assumes many forms and always claims to represent the worker or the "little guy". But in the end he represents himself and his own perverted ambitions. So he embarks on a defective experiment that has been tried throughout the history

of mankind, since the beginning.This defective experiment is called socialism(or marxism, maoism,stalinism), all various forms of tyranny. He(the statist) can never steal enough liberty and private property to acheive his ends, but both(liberty and private property) are always the problem. The wealthy are despised, the destitute are condescended to, and liberty the along with society, are victimized. Because in the end, a sick society that does not respect the liberty and private property rights of the wealthy, is a sick society for everybody.

Freed,

Henry Ford was maligned by the other titans of industry when he made the decision to pay his assembly line workers enough so they could purchase the cars they were manufacturing. Keeping people in slave wage conditions without benefits may be what you call liberty but I will never call it that. You have several times compared the poor in the US to the poor in developing countries but I notice you have not compared them to the poor in other developed countries. Even the poor in other developed countries are able to avoid lack of access to sufficient food for their children and lack of health care. Why does the US lead the industrialized world in numbers of homeless? Where is the safety net?

Freed,

Seems to me like Peace is advocating for more personal responsibility, wherein those of us who have the great good fortune to have our health and be able to work to support ourselves, all chip in to help those who cannot. That seems a given for a civilized society. That is the only way we can have a society which thrives - not just the very wealthiest and most powerful, but where everyone has the opportunity to live a decent life. Perhaps some people need temporary help to get back on their feet again and be productive, contributing citizens. For example, with small business loans, job training programs, or even programs such as food stamps and other temporary social welfare programs. Other people may need to be supported forever - for example, the severely disabled, or elderly, sick, and impoverished people.You speak disparagingly about a " 'Department of Compassion' " within the walls of government." If we as a society cannot encompass compassion, then I think that is a very ugly thing.

I guess you like a world where large corporations have more

Why do you care only about the wealthy? Where does such a strange creed come from?

The liberty you repeatedly refer to seems to be the liberty for anyone to make as much money as they possibly can without any kind of rules or regulations. So, if someone can lie, cheat and steal to obtain their wealth, that is OK with you, because they are exercising their "liberty"? …

Sorry, I hit the "send" button too soon, before the post was finished. First time poster! The post should have ended after the first paragraph.

Meadowlark-This strange creed comes from the U.S. Constitution.

-Sounds like you ought to start a Church. Just don't expect goverment to become one.

-Large corporations, small businesses, ceo's, blue collar workers, white coller workers, the rich, the poor, and the middle class are all valuble and should all be free to excercise their God Given Liberty to pursue happiness how they see fit. Liberty does not guarantee equal outcomes, just equal opportunity.

-First of all, your statement that all wealthy people lie, cheat and steal is colossal in its ignorance. You must have a deep seeded envy of people who have done well for themselves, and it is not an intellectual argument but rather an emotional issue that perhaps you need to deal with on a personal level. Because it sounds slightly hysterical and a little bit paranoid to me. It's not governments job to level the playing field. Just to guarantee individual liberty, and private property under a stable rule of law, for its' citizens, without respect to title or status(dispassionate).

peace- you can call it bannanas if you'd like, it doesn't change the fact that liberty involves voluntary actions and transactions which is the essence of what Wal-Mart and other corporations are. You seem to be extremely envious of people that do well financially. Money is not everything, peace.

-It is observed that the Statist is dissatisfied with the condition of his own existence. He condemns his fellow man, surroundings, and society itself for denying him the fulfillment, success, and adulation he believes he deserves. He is angry, resentful, petulant, and jealous. He is incapable of honest self-assessment and rejects the honest assessment by others of himself, thereby evading responsibility for his own miserable condition. The Statist searches for significance and even glory in a utopian fiction of his mind's making, the earthly attainment of which, he believes, is frustrated by those who do not share it. For the Statist, liberty is not a blessing but the enemy. It is not possible to achieve Utopia if individuals are free to go their own way. The primary principle around which the Statist organizes can be summed up in a single word--equality.