On Fri, Apr 20, 2001 at 09:14:38PM -0400, Mark J. Roberts wrote:
> On Fri, 20 Apr 2001, Travis Bemann wrote:
>
> > > > It is likely that the initial reports of genocide were false. If I am
> > > > correct, Serbs did attack Kosovars in various places in Kosovo after
> > > > the beginning of the NATO intervention.
> > >
> > > The genocide either happened or it didn't happen. Which one?
> >
> > A bunch of people were killed, and whole lot more people were chased
> > into Albania and Macedonia. That did probably actually happen. I was
> > just stating that the conclusion that the initial reports of genocide
> > were probably false was generally suppressed by the corporate media.
>
> So the genocide took place entirely after NATO intervened. Did NATO
> encourage the genocide (or at least turn a blind eye to it) in order to
> justify their intervention (and their evil motives of stealing the
> resources of Kosovo)?
Possibly. I wouldn't be surprised if this was true, but I have no way
of telling whether or not.
> > > But, under a Libertarian government, you must think that the capitalists
> > > would gain more power than the government would lose. What evidence to you
> > > have in favor of this view?
> >
> > The only thing that government loses is the power to regulate
> > business. On the other hand, government still has law enforcement and
> > military power, which it uses to cement its own power and the power of
> > the capitalists and the security of the capitalists' property.
>
> The Libertarians would abolish the income tax and the war on drugs. The
> government would be substantially weaker under Libertarian control.
Under Libertarian control the government's sole purpose would be the
protection of the capitalists and their property and fighting those
people who wish to expropriate the bourgeoisie and breaking strikes
and other stuff of that sort. A Libertarian world would be quite
nightmarish. A world of corporate enforcers, right-wing vigilantes,
lethal pollution, extreme poverty, corporate-run towns and cities, and
just total unrestricted corporate power. You get the picture. It
would be similar to fascism, in many respects.
> If the Libertarians did win the presidency, in what ways would the
> expansion of capitalism impact my life? What misery would I endure? Cite
> specific examples of how I would be fucked by powerful capitalists.
The capitalists will have the freedom to pollute all they want. That
might not seem like much, but you'll find that it is quite a problem
when your water is chock full of PCBs and dioxin and your air is thick
with sulfur and nitrogen oxides and people start getting chloracne and
leukemia. Let's just say that your chances of dying of cancer will
probably be quite likely (maybe even more likely than dying of a heart
attack).
The capitalists will essentially be able to create their own police
and military forces, which will probably work with the government
police and military forces to suppress any opposition to the
capitalists (look back at the history of strikebreaking in America -
it is quite instructive). You'll see corporate enforcers and
government police and military working together to protect the
property and power of the capitalists. If you strike, you'll probably
end up getting a bullet in the head (if you don't believe me, read up
on early union history - vigilantes and police often shot good numbers
of striking workers). It may even be worse than fascism in this
respect. This is one reason why I'll be perfectly willing to wage
full scale war if necessary to keep Libertarian government from coming
into being (and corporate globalization may be the road to Libertarian
government, as it seeks to remove all restrictions upon capitalism).
Workplace conditions will really suck, and the pay will also really
suck. We'll go back to the days of working in really dangerous
factories, but instead of just having dangerous machinery, we'll also
have really toxic chemicals all over the place. Yay! Factories are
already often bad (look at the semiconductor industry), and they'll
get infinitely worse with Libertarian government. If you work in
anything resembling a factory, plan to die of cancer after about
twenty or thirty years (if you aren't killed by some piece of
machinery before that point).
--
Yes, I know my enemies.
They're the teachers who tell me to fight me.
Compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission, ignorance,
hypocrisy, brutality, the elite.
All of which are American dreams.
- Rage Against The Machine
PGP signature
