09-02-2004, 10:55 PM
Well the question is what you call an extreme. The last reports from (I forgot the name, probably Unesco??)
showed that something in the order of 40 milion americans lived under the poverty line. So something must be wrong with that "persecution of the majority". I know that if those 40 milion would vote for a socialist party they would have directly an enormous amount of seats in parliament, so they could make changes. For some reason this does not happen.
For starters, they would have very few seats in Congress. Remember, here we are voting for a representative of our location and two senators representing our state (who do not get elected in the same year). Only the top vote getter gets in. Based on your assumption that all people vote according to income class, all of the socialist votes would be taken from the pool that currently votes for Democrats. So, the only districts that would be represented by Socialists would be ones in which more people are in poverty than vote Republican, which would be a pretty small number of Representatives, and zero Senators. Instead, such people make the left economic wing of the Democratic party, pushing for things like more welfare benefits and socialized medicine.
But even then, being someone who doesn't make much money doesn't mean you are anti-capitalist. I've lived on the wrong side of the poverty line, although I didn't have to support a family at the same time. But anyways, having to struggle financially didn't suddenly make me think "Hey, wouldn't it be great if the government paid me the same amount of money as everyone else makes?" That's just not my way of thinking.
A lot of the poverty in this country is a self-inflicted condition. At UDF, there is a sign saying "positions available, $8-$10/hour". Outside UDF, there is a guy bumming change from the customers going in and out. Given a high school diploma, a clean criminal record, a good attitude, and no serious physical or mental handicaps, there are places everywhere in this country just waiting to hire you, that will offer double minimum wage and full benefits. A lot of the poor here aren't in a position to take advantage of those opportunities, but an aweful lot of them are (or certainly could be, if not for their own bad choices along the way).
showed that something in the order of 40 milion americans lived under the poverty line. So something must be wrong with that "persecution of the majority". I know that if those 40 milion would vote for a socialist party they would have directly an enormous amount of seats in parliament, so they could make changes. For some reason this does not happen.
For starters, they would have very few seats in Congress. Remember, here we are voting for a representative of our location and two senators representing our state (who do not get elected in the same year). Only the top vote getter gets in. Based on your assumption that all people vote according to income class, all of the socialist votes would be taken from the pool that currently votes for Democrats. So, the only districts that would be represented by Socialists would be ones in which more people are in poverty than vote Republican, which would be a pretty small number of Representatives, and zero Senators. Instead, such people make the left economic wing of the Democratic party, pushing for things like more welfare benefits and socialized medicine.
But even then, being someone who doesn't make much money doesn't mean you are anti-capitalist. I've lived on the wrong side of the poverty line, although I didn't have to support a family at the same time. But anyways, having to struggle financially didn't suddenly make me think "Hey, wouldn't it be great if the government paid me the same amount of money as everyone else makes?" That's just not my way of thinking.
A lot of the poverty in this country is a self-inflicted condition. At UDF, there is a sign saying "positions available, $8-$10/hour". Outside UDF, there is a guy bumming change from the customers going in and out. Given a high school diploma, a clean criminal record, a good attitude, and no serious physical or mental handicaps, there are places everywhere in this country just waiting to hire you, that will offer double minimum wage and full benefits. A lot of the poor here aren't in a position to take advantage of those opportunities, but an aweful lot of them are (or certainly could be, if not for their own bad choices along the way).