Take That, Cap'n Jack Sparrow!

[poliphilo]

I notice everyone thinks pirates are totally cool until they actually turn up off the coast of Somalia in the 21st century. Then they're just a freakin' nuisance and deserve to be shot down like the scurvy sons of seacooks that they are. 

Maybe if they wore 18th century fancy dress...

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My ideal is the post-war Attlee government- and a kind of socialism which- as I think Harold Wilson said- owed more to Methodism than Marx. The British way is to muddle along, not paying too much notice to ideology- and it's produced one of the fairest, most equitable, least unpleasant states in the world. I detest the current government- but I suppose I'd rather be ruled by Gordon Brown than by almost any other national leader I can think of.

BTW, in spite of calling myself a socialist I'm seriously thinking of voting Tory next time round. I want to see these buggers kicked out of office as soon as is humanly possible.

[(Anonymous)]

I think the trouble with socialism is that it may start off ok, but it's prone to non-stop growth. A new (and pressing) issue arrives? Great lets create a new (kneejerk) law.. ad infinitum.
I also think the country is running itself into the ground. Being equitable somehow means giving money to people, without asking for responsibility, or any kind of output (financial or social) in return. It seems to be hell bent on destroying the middle class too. If you're a multi-ethnic, lesbian, criminal, immigrant who needs benefits money to buy the batteries for her vibrator, then you get the full package of benefits. If you're a hard-working middle class type then you get shafted in an altogether less pleasant way :P.
As far as the big 3 parties go you'll find that they are all for big government and socialism.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, perhaps- but they're committed to Thatcherite market economics too- another god which seems to have failed- as I guess all political gods are bound to fail in the end.

It's one of the strengths of our system that power regularly changes hands- so that you get this small shift from left to right and back again. I like what Churchill said about democracy- that's it's the worst system there is- apart from all the others.

I agree about this government's mania for making new laws. Law is only any good when it's enforcable. The Blair/Brown reaction to social failure of any kind is to chuck another law onto the ever mounting heap- never mind the implications for liberty.

[(Anonymous)]

I think free market economics work fine, it's the very fact that it's NOT free which has caused this mess. Money supply is manipulated by the central banks (like the Federal Reserve and Bank of England). They row the economy between boom and bust on purpose in order to concentrate wealth and power with the powerful bankers. Markets truly allowed to work on their own are a very different thing. See this article: http://www.thelibertyvoice.com/?p=136

I would agree that power shifting between differing parties would be a good think were it not for the fact that they are so similar, and that I'm not even sure if they are the ones who hold the real power.
Tom F