the Republic of the United States of America, may have what some would call socialist traits . . medicare , SSI . yet these are not socialist , they are paid for through our TAXES . ,/, welfare , public assistance , food banks , these verge on what could be considered a social system . but we are a country that is free to do as we please and when we please as long as we do not infringe upon another's right to do as they please. we are a capitalist form where if you want you can start a business or company to serve the public . or make a object that people want or need . which is under the control of the people who founded them . although there is , are regulations imposed by government be it fed. state or local . where in a socialist system the government basically runs every thing . where as seen around the world where a socialist system is in power these countries eventually self destruct . it is not possible to keep enough income coming into the system to give every one what they are "supposedly" entitled to . /,/,/,/ this is my theory from what I have seen in the past . now with that being said . all of them dem. campaigners spewing out all of their rhetorical comments about free this and free that . sure sound mighty tempting to agree with . although "WHERE IS ALL THE MONEY GOING TO COME FROM TO SUPPORT ALL THOSE FREEBIES ? 70% taxes on corp. ? sky high taxes on the wealthy ? with all of the dem. tax plans through out the years that I have been around . what has corp. done when their taxes reach a breaking point ? they say GOOD BY . and leave the country . so what then increase the taxes on the wealthy ? you say they can afford it . well I say . why should a person making a million a tear have to pay a higher percentage in taxes than a person making 50 thousand a year ? plus under a socialist system , how much of your pay are you willing to give up ? 60% or 70% ? I would not be able to live where I live at those rates . would you . oh will the socialist system pay my house payment? or would this system put people to work building housing complexes ? then we would all be the very same . except for the polititions and their cronies . they would be filthy rich and all of us "common folks would wind up as lower middle class or upper lower class . sounds like a really nice life to me . how about you ?

we part company on your very first comment..

No Democrat or liberal i know or have listened to wants to install a socialist system.. Period..

spending money of the nations needs is not the socialism you see.. of all the socialist programs, some call a fire department or a highway construction socialism..

The term has been thrown at the Democrats for generations and the plan for 2020 is to never stop it..

It is simply one more Republican lie..

Considering your words you agree the the United States should not pay its debt, fix its infrastructure. better its health care, invest in new commerce, protect the citizen from anything or maintain a safe and clean world..

Only more guns and planes... we already have more then next top 5 combined..

and you know you will never feel safe, it is not part of your nature.

Whaddytalking about? Employers are employing employees, aren’t they? That’s better than ‘being friends’ with them. Employers are talking with their money, not just BSing. “Money talks, BS walks.”
Maybe the employee can do it better. If so he’s free to start his own company and show his former employer ‘a better way’.
Unions have run their course and have outlived their usefulness. Especially public service unions which should be outlawed anyway.
In today’s booming economy employees are free to work where there isn’t an adversarial relationship with the employer. If they’re just malcontents they might have trouble finding any satisfactory job anywhere.
Employers and employees should both have one objective in mind: produce a better product at a competitive price. If the employee can’t sign onto that objective, he should go elsewhere. If he needs a union to advocate grievances for him to the employer, he’s already a poor fit and should go elsewhere. (With that type of attitude he likely won’t fit in anywhere in a capitalist economy. Maybe he should try socialism elsewhere.)

Just to clear a point or two.. you seem to think I am a champion for Iran, i am not..

In my lizard brain i would like to turn Iran and the Saudis into slag heaps and be done with them..

Work on new problems in the ME..

but I do want the united States to be a law abiding nation. at least to its own laws and the laws with our allies..

Iran has plenty of reasons to see the United States as their enemy.. OK, we are..

Yes, the leadership is radical..

The people are not, they were the most westernized nation in the Mideast before everything was turned over to the crazy leaders.

A strategy of containment until the leadership died was a good and safer idea.

With the age of those leaders, we are not talking a long term to a new administration..

That plan was working..

Now we have nothing.. we do not have any attempt by the our leaders to have any negotiations.

A long list of demand they can not meet even just to sit down is in no way an effort to alleviate the problem..

Acts by Bolton, Pompeo and trump himself are showing no intent at all for any diplomacy..

War seems to be the key word...

Again the high road should be with the United States, not any other nation..

Well, do you know what socialism is? I mean really: I’m interested in hearing what you fear or like about it. Public Schools are good, right? Public Works- road maintenance, parks, electric. And public service like police and fire, courts, tax assessors- all of it to support We The People. And the places that privatized public services screwed us. The Prison system is the perfect example.
But we *are* a socialist country. The root word, social, refers to Society. We are tribal people. We do not do well on our own- isolated. And the US hasn’t fought an honest war since 1945. I have so many younger friends who enlisted and served tour after tour in Afghanistan and Iraq. Some died there, others died after they returned. What does the Middle East War (2003 -present) have to do with our way of life? What were my friends fighting for?
I seriously welcome the opportunity to learn from you; to share our ideas.
Let’s start with “socialist.” For 17 of my 32 years working I taught public school. I served the public. I’ve been in the trenches of service to my country. Instead of a rifle I carried a baton, lesson plans, and an iPod. But service just the same.
Are services that benefit the whole society a bad thing or a good thing and how are we defining “social”?

darn it jake, I have been trying to show my empathy and concern, but it seems I just do not give a crap this morning..

but the sun is shining, coffed is great, kid is gone for today. dog loves me..

So I shall be much more gentel in a bit of time..

Head to the deck and do nothing again..

What are you guys on the right deluding yourselves about today??

By the way.. real question, what was the Kidney treatment idea trump was going to release yesterday, I was interested, thought it may be the first good thing to ever be done by orange.

so I watched but not even local (Twin Cities) had anything about it.

Short tread was on yesterday..