1984:  I voted for Walter Mondale.  I believed that people were too selfish and we couldn’t count on their volunteer charity to care for the needy.  I favored government intervention to care for the less fortunate and give them equal opportunity.

Preference Socialism: 

Pros:  The government oversees care for people so that no one is left on the street.  An impartial person will see to it that care is given out evenly, equally.  Empowers people to

Cons:  Once bureaucracy is established it can’t be easily managed.  I noticed this back in the 80’s with the welfare administration.  It was not working efficiently, but no politician could touch it because it would be political suicide.  Even with Reagan as president, welfare reform didn’t happen.  I saw that the government doesn’t spend tax money wisely, perhaps because they didn’t work hard to earn it.  For the first time, I saw the value of money being spent wisely by the person who worked hard to earn it.  The higher taxation to pay for the government run programs de-motivates entrepreneurial efforts.  Example:  Japan has high taxation on the wealthy, greater than 70% on the highest brackets.  Japanese business today does very well in improving business models, but innovation is less than in the U.S.  Could this be due to a lack of desire to make it big, because the take home pay becomes self limiting anyway?  

Flash forward to today:

Preference Capitalism:

Pros:  Capitalism is driven by the unavoidable human impulse of greed.  To get more, one has to work harder and come up with new entrepreneurial ideas which have good returns.  This fuels economic growth which then provides available funds for charitable activity.  New business also creates jobs.  Money is less likely to be misused because the giver knows the value of how hard it was to earn it.

Cons:  Some people are left behind, out on the street, and don’t thrive.  There aren’t enough charitable people around to take care of the needy.  Since, even the expansion of minimum wage jobs requires a business to be successful, the business owner or company executive will be rewarded at a much higher level than the entry level jobs.  And since only a few can become executives, disparity will always exist.  Need to find more ways to promote charity, ways to influence that other human impulse – Compassion.  Compassion is what drives charity.  Capitalism today has too much greed and not enough compassion.  Need balance.

As for me, I would describe myself as someone who is capitalist with some socialist leanings. By that I mean that I think we need regulation in the marketplace to help protect against fraud and other unsavory practices and also to keep from happening what happened with the home loan crisis. A "free" unfettered market is just a disaster waiting to happen in my opinon. If there are no regulations then there is no protection from vicious companies taking advantage of the people.

To often it seems that greed is not self regulated well enough and when other means aren't set up to deter such practices they wreak havoc on the population and take advantage of them in monstorous ways. 

well i totally support CAPITALISM!!!! i mean honestly, who should u rely on the government (corrupt, sinful, mortal) or GOD (Perfect, Indescriable, Eternal, Always providing... etc)?  i feel that people need to earn what they have. not wait for the government to give out welfare. i'm not saying that there aren't people out there who do need it like disabled people in such. But a problem that arises is, that i know in vermont cause i live here) there are people who who have good enough jobs that collect welfare and unemployment checks and just waste it it on bad things like alcohal and other bad things. I don't mean to judge but that's just what happens a lot of the time.

'Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat." 2 thessalonians 3:12

When people turn to socialism the government gets bigger and bigger government means LESS rights for everyone and more corruption in the political system. Anyone can say that they are going to fix things like the econom, when in reality they can't...  People NEED to vote for Politicians with BIBICAL values if they don't want to see america crash into a downward spiral! Please don't vote for socialism, socialism is very close to communism and we all know that doesn't work. And don't vote for people who say that say america isn't a christian nation. because it was founded on Christian values. I think that if my great great great and so on grandfather John Adams he and the rest of the founding fathers would be ashamed of our country's growing size of the government, political corruption, and that fact that we are inching are way towards socialism which is BAD!

Hope you liked this and understand my point of view. I come from a very liberal state and it bothers me that they passed a gay marriage law and have so many political issues... Pray for VT and the rest of our Government. :)

opps... i didn't mean to be so negetive about socialism ^ i'm sry i just really needed to express my opinion towards what's going on with our government. I didn't realize that i was bashing socialism so much. i should have posted how it could be imporved.. but the only way America's situation if if they turn to God. Supposivly 70% of americans call themselves Christians (many use this lossely) but if we elect/support people who love God and have good values, we could see a turn around in our country! :)

I'm only a sophmore in H.S. soooo... i can't vote but i like to express my opinion. It's funny cause in debates in civis class i'm outnumbered lol cause i'm like one of the few conservatives/republicans in my entire school!! (which is pretty sad :(...  ) 

Sara stated, "Supposivly 70% of americans call themselves Christians (many use this lossely) but if we elect/support people who love God and have good values, we could see a turn around in our country! :)"

Very true!!  I always vote Christian first and then other items second.  What is interesting is that Christians will prioritize different items and so self proclaimed Christians will vote very differently.

As somebody who's been tied into government red tape since I was 2. I am DEFINATELY ALL CAPITOLISM. I strongly dislike being "taken care of", the only thing that I dislike more then that is all of the hoops you have to jump through to qualify for anything. The most frustrating part of everything is all the information they (government entities) want you to get for them. They ARE the US GOVERNMENT, they know everything I've ever done, every school I ever attended, every job I've worked at, how much I made at said jobs etc. Yet they always want the individual to go around getting all those forms. Its redundant to the point of idiocy. Not to mention anything the government does seems to get corrupted. Recently I had to deal with two different gov agencys Unemployment, and the State Department (for my passport as I am going to the philippines on Labor Day). Both agency's seem to have rules and policies designed just to frustrate and irritate the consumer......I will be glad when I can see the day I don't have to deal with anymore GOVERNMENT RED TAPE!!!

ForgivenOne