[DoggyStyle82]

[I found this saying about liberals and conservatives:

A liberal will let a few people cheat the system
to make sure that nobody goes hungry.

A conservative will let a few people go hungry to
make sure nobody cheats the system.


Not true. A conservative will stack the deck in his favor prior to the game, and then demand that no one cheats, and when he wins, he will swear its because he is better.

BLACKWATCH, my brother, we finally agree once again. Although I am very big on personal responsibilty being the major indicator for whether or not you fail in life, the SYSTEM is set up for few to Prosper, most to get by, many to Struggle, and a great deal to baely Survive.

The GAME that conservatives play is to get social conservatives distracted by red herrings like welfare, gun control, abortion, affirmative action etc. The rich laugh because none of these things effect them, nor their agenda one bit. Their agenda is to get rich by passing laws that enrich their industries and allow them to consolidate power. You hit it on the head with deregulation. Now 3 or 4 companies control all of radio, television, cable etc. Who gets rich by drilling in Alaska? Who makes money by starting a war in Iraq?

I'm a very traditional person, so by nature that makes me socially conservative, but I am very Libertarian when it comes to personal conduct, and I believe that the government should only be liberal when addressing institutional inequities, not for pushing social agendas. When it comes to assisting the Black community, we need a radical change in philosophy and approach. Liberal policies that addressed inequities in the previous decades no longer work and we need to stop holding on to them. They make us weak and dependent. Now that we have grown up, we need to shake loose the shackles of government paternalism and turn to philosophies that challenge US to be responsible sheperds of our own lives and futures. We still need help, but not the kind that keeps us co-dependent and weak. Jesse and Al are great and I thank them, but we need to mine some new intellectual and political capital, and not the same "government owes us, and we are gonna cry til you pacify us" philosophy.

I will never cast my lot with Trent Lott's bunch, but we need to break from Liberal dependence. Its as debilitating as Republican indifference.