Discussion on The Harvard Crimson 19 comments
Life, Liberty, and Basic Income | Opinion
Ron Ruggieri
Ron Ruggieri doc2513 a minute ago
Pending
My blog address is http://radicalrons.blogspot...

Ron Ruggieri
Ron Ruggieri doc2513 4 minutes ago
Whenever I type out my personal blog address it instantly gets " DETECTED AS SPAM ".
The National Security State protecting " OUR democracy " !

From whence come the funds with which to pay your subjects their guaranteed incomes? The right to life means only that the state cannot deprive you of that life without appropriate legal niceties.

Most societies do not tolerate slackers and you seem to propose that becoming a slacker is a very real option under your system. Remember what happened to the Grasshopper.

Remember Marx's solution for the lumpenproletariat? I do.

More from Damon Linker :
[" I almost can't believe it's come to this. I spent most of the 1990s as a neoliberal, the first few years of the 2000s as a conservative, and then every year since 2004 as a Democratic-leaning centrist once again. My political instincts run toward moderation. I'm reflexively hostile to radical politics. Yet here I am, strongly tempted to support lifelong democratic socialist Bernie Sanders for president.

How has it happened? Why am I feeling the Bern? "
" Feeling the Bern " in Boston, at Harvard ?
What was Marx's solution for the lumpenproletariat ? Not Hitler's !

Search Marx/lumpenproletariat. You wouldn't believe me.

" OUR democracy " is rather sickly even at " The Harvard Crimson ". My last comments are still " PENDING ". The names and faces of the arrogant censors should be known to all readers.
To be sure, there is not a whiff of " democratic socialism " among pro-Biden " establishment " Democrats. But they are promising disciples of Stalinism .
I would refer comment readers to my personal blog . But the moment I type out the blog address it is instantly " DETECTED AS SPAM " .
No " liberal " Democrat deigns to notice the mockery of FREE SPEECH and FREE THOUGHT on college campuses and in the mainstream news media.

Why is my last PRO-SOCIALIST, PRO-BERNIE SANDERS comment still " PENDING " ? Who has the censorship authority at Harvard Crimson ? Friends of Joe Biden and Michael Bloomberg ?
So much for " OUR democracy " even in the Ivy League !

Nothing in this article about duties or responsibilities. This article reads, sad to say, like someone who thinks meat and vegetables magically appear in the supermarket for him to consume.

It is simply false, though I chalk this up to the author's naiveté, that employers are virtual slave overseers just because they pay their workers to work. Workers can quit at any time and find a better job. Workers are free to chose any job or no job. But what they can't do is make a claim against the goods and services that others produce when they themselves are not willing to work at all.

It is contrary to all human experience to believe that a sizeable segment of the able-bodied, employment-aged population can simply stop working and live off the government for all their lives. Just imagine the resentment that would build up among those who still go to work.

Look around you at the buildings, roads, schools, malls full of stuff, and ask yourself, Where did all this come from? People who worked, that's where. Do you think all those people loved their jobs? Very few do. But they work because they have self-respect, and want a better life. By all means take care of those who can't work, but as for those who simply won't work, I recommend letting them starve.

Again I can connect Bernie Sanders SOCIALIST vision with that of the late Irving Howe. An excerpt from a March 13,2019 article in " This Week " by Damon Linker :
[ " My favorite definition of socialism, because it so well captures the dreamy, circular, and largely contentless character of the way it is usually invoked, comes from Irving Howe, the New York intellectual, founder of Dissent magazine, and a life-long figure on the social-democratic left. Howe famously defined socialism as 'the name of our desire,'with the 'our' referring to highly literate, non-Stalinist leftists like himself. Socialism is what people like Howe desired."]
Karl Marx did say that the ruling ideas are the ideas of the ruling class. The American ruling class makes the very idea of SOCIALISM anathema.
But could its mainstream news media really succeed in making working class people LOVE the reality of rotten capitalism and loathe the dream of socialism ?
My favorite Malcolm X quote : " Show me a capitalist and I'll show you a blood sucker ".
Capitalism - like ancient slavery - works just fine for our privileged class. But not for the wage slaves!

These "wage slaves" of whom you speak enjoy a standard of living that is superior of the kings of Europe when Marx wrote his Manifesto. They have better food, better housing with heat and air conditioning, better entertainment, better education, better transportation, and yes, Bernie Bros, better health care. They live longer and have much more leisure time than workers of any previous era in human history.

Not bad for slaves.

But then to socialists just having to work for a living is slavery, even if you are free to take a job or no job or quit the job you do take. Socialists think the world owes you a job even if you are not productive enough to justify the wage that you demand. Socialists think that if a "capitalist" takes his idea for a product or service, starts up a company, invests his own money and takes substantial risks, works countless hours to get the business going, that if it is successful that business should belong to the employees he hired along the way, none of whom wants to take much risk, work that hard, or who has a good idea for a business.

The meaning of "capitalism" is freedom. No one tells you you can or can't start and run a business, and no one tells you you must work for any employer. You can always work for yourself.

And there are many capitalists who have gone broke because their businesses failed. Just think of all the closed up shops and restaurants you have seen, or think of the many major corporations that have gone out of business, from Pan Am to Borders Books to Lehman Bros, and many more. Were the wage slaves asked to kick in to cover the losses? Or did they just move on?

In a universe where everything comes into existence and passes out of existence why should CAPITALISM be eternal ?
The human race survived for at least 100,000 years without sacrosanct private property, without the capitalist mode of production.
Your comment is sophomoric LIBERTARIAN - possibly Ayn Rand inspired - nonsense. As Marx said the RULING IDEAS ARE THE IDEAS OF THE RULING CLASS. Are intelligent critics of capitalism given equal time in the mainstream news media ?
The intelligent criticism of capitalism is not just sentimental based on sympathy for the millions of exploited and oppressed , the wretched of the earth. More and more global capitalism is becoming incompatible with a livable planet , indeed with CIVILIZATION .
Even global capitalism is tied to the NATION STATE and these nation states are mutually hostile.
For example , post-communist Russia is today a CAPITALIST country . To be sure , " OUR democracy " controlled by plutocrats -like Donald Trump and Michael Bloomberg - is in no way on a higher moral plane than Putin's Russian oligarchy .
Yet the " liberal " Democrats - not Trump - have been promoting the HATE RUSSIA, New McCarthyism .
How can Bad Vlad Putin undermine " OUR democracy " more than BIG MONEY , than corporate corruption ?
The American plutocracy is terrified that American voters - with a " socialist " Bernie Sanders running for president - might have the political equivalent of a referendum not on the virtue and wisdom of Bernie Sanders -but on the justice and sanity of the American capitalist system.
As a DEMOCRATIC socialist I will accept any verdict from truly FREE, un-brainwashed voters .
As an " old Catholic " type I am well adjusted to being anti-materialism and unworldly anyway. I see too much PRIVATE PROPERTY as a burden from which SOCIALISM can relieve the unhappy rich.
Most decent human beings on this planet -whatever their race or ethnic group - think that GREED IS NOT GOOD .
God bless Bernie Sanders on Super Tuesday. Somebody ,on the left I presume, called him the " greatest Jew since Jesus Christ ". But that savors of blasphemy !

You called my comment sophomoric and nonsense. I will refrain from calling you names. Instead I'll just think them.

During that 100,000 years of pre-capitalist human existence the average person lived on the equivalent of $3 per day. Starvation, poverty, disease, and a life that was nasty, brutish, and short were the circumstances of virtually all people. And then something amazing happened.

With the development of economic freedom the world suddenly (just in the last 150 years) became prosperous. This prosperity and freedom weren't immediately shared by all but lately they have been leaching out into the wider world, as more than 1 billion people were moved out of poverty just in the last 20 years, and vast swaths of backward countries such as India have been added to the electric grid.

Socialism is responsible for exactly none of this. Socialist countries lagged way behind everyone else as free societies raced ahead. West Germany compared to East Germany. South Korea compared to North Korea. Countries like China and India have zoomed ahead, too, as they liberalized their markets. If you want to dispute this narrative you are welcome to try. Don't forget about what socialism has done for Venezuela. From prosperity to dumpster diving in just a few short years.

It is true that capitalism is not guaranteed to last. If the new generation of students are not educated to know the horrors of socialism and the wonders of capitalism they may very well try to make another Venezuela out of the US. Then, people like you will have to figure out what went wrong. What did the wreckers do to subvert your glorious revolution? Why aren't the workers happy in their forced labor camps and collective farms?

No insult intended. Thank you for your intelligent and articulate reply . Most informed socialists take the long view of history and the evolution of human civilization. " Socialism " is not a mechanical blueprint for a social order designed by Karl Marx, Plato, Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Mao , Castro or some obtuse Central Committee in Venezuela.
ANY " blueprint " for socialism is based on the inner contradictions of capitalism well documented since the 1848 " Communist Manifesto ".
Your view of socialism reminds me of the one nightly damned on " Red Eye " radio. I listen to these two guys Eric and Gary - not just insomnia - but because they are honest , decent , and intelligent , offering " critical support " of Donald Trump.
To be sure I don't think like these " liberal " Democrats that Trump is the root of all evil . For this democratic socialist President Trump is just a very representative plutocrat - certainly not Hitler.
The social order of humanity was never a " machine " which social engineers hoped would " work " . Modern " socialism is ridiculed as a metaphorical " perpetual motion machine ".
A functional " socialism " can only be based on the collective experience of ALL humanity.
I don't see how even American capitalism is prepared for future catastrophes for which the late Isaac Asimov said we have a CHOICE.
Think about another Great Plague like that of the 14th century. Rather than being a HELPING HAND a " libertarian " government might tell THE INDIVIDUAL to save himself.
The alienation of THE INDIVIDUAL is one of the tragedies of capitalism .

Capitalism is analogous to the organic workings of the human body, while socialism is more analogous to Frankenstein trying to create life in the laboratory.

Capitalism is nothing more than individual freedom. Let each man work as he chooses, and keep the fruits of his labor. Socialism requires each man to work as the collective chooses, and the collective decides how much he gets to keep.

Under socialism the central authority plans how much bread, how much steel, how many pairs of brown shoes. All these commodities will end up being either over or under produced and will be of poor quality. Best American example: inner city government schools. Soviet examples: any and all consumer goods.

Socialist farming leads to famine, as farmers are told what to grow instead of deciding what to grow based on market forces and price signals. In Mao's China, 50 or 60 million died of starvation when Mao ordered all collective farms to multiply crop yields by planting much more densely, which actually reduced yields to starvation levels. A mistake by one farmer hurts a tiny bit. A mistake by the minister of agriculture kills millions.

Clearest examples of all: East Germany had the Trabant automobile. Top speed 45 mph. You had to wait 5-8 years to get one. West Germany had Mercedes and BMW, and also Volkswagen for the economy minded. You could get one today. Both countries started from the same point in 1945.

Under capitalism price signals instruct each producer what to make, how many to make, and what to charge for it, and the quality had better be good or he will soon be out of business. Under socialism a government minister decides what to make and could not possibly have the information necessary to get supply to equal demand. I can only imagine the quality of socialist restaurants, TV shows, or movies. Nothing of note has been invented in socialist countries, to my knowledge. We buy nothing from Russia. We buy lots of things from China since they liberalized their economy.

Capitalism does not mean that there is no social safety net. Nor does it mean that there are no cooperative enterprises, such as police and fire protection, or public libraries. Some things cannot be efficiently produced by the private sector, and so those things are the province of government.

I ask you: What are socialism's success stories? Where has it worked to make people better off?

As for profit: Profit is not what socialists think it is, namely, the excess value produced by workers and stolen by capitalists. In actuality, the labor theory of value is simply false. A simple example: A talented artist spends $50 on materials and 100 hours creating a painting. He is able to sell it for $10,050. Thus, he is paid $100 for his labor. I also spend $50 on materials and spend 100 hours creating a painting. I am only able to sell it for $150. I have been paid $1 per hour for my work. It is not the labor that creates value, rather it is the price someone is willing to pay.

LeBron James is one of the best basketball players in the world. But by himself, he might be able to make a decent living selling tickets to watch him shoot around, or playing against a bunch of other players. But because the capitalists who own the NBA contract with him to play for them his playing is worth perhaps $100 million per year. Of this amount, he receives $35 million. Is he being exploited? The capitalists make a huge profit. But without them he is nothing. Both parties benefit enormously from their voluntary association. There is no exploitation when both parties are free to transact or not. This is true of all employees in a free market economy.

At a more mundane level a university professor will not make much money without his university.

I did REPLY . But HOLD ON " The Harvard Crimson " is about to ban me. Check out Radical Ron's Blog Spot to read my REPLY .

I replied on your blog but my comment seems to have disappeared.

My REPLY to you is PENDING . That usually is equivalent to " REMOVED " .

Check out WHO censors the Harvard Crimson . Fans of Michael Bloomberg and Joe Biden ?

Whenever I type out my personal blog address it instantly gets " DETECTED AS SPAM ".
The National Security State protecting " OUR democracy " !

This is what a real DEMOCRATIC socialists dislike about Ivy League based liberal illiberalism . The Left too is showing a growing contempt for the FREE SPEECH , FREE THOUGHT tradition of Western Civilization.
Right Wing Trump is right about " liberal " FAKE NEWS .

Obesity is the US poor's single biggest health problem, railing about starvation makes you look stupid. Redistribute your money, that's legal. Redistribute mine and that's theft. This is simple stuff.

" The Founding Fathers penned these words in the Declaration of Independence and laid forth a vision of what America could be. There is hope in these words — hope for a world in which all people have their basic needs met, have the freedom to make their own choices, and have the opportunity to pursue a meaningful life in their own way."
As an old democratic socialist myself -and a critical " critical supporter " of "socialist Democrat Bernie Sanders I must raise this question : how is any guarantee of economic security compatible with the nightmare world of global capitalism ?
How is FOR PROFIT capitalism even compatible with a livable world ?
I am very impressed that young people today are not brainlessly turned off by the very idea of SOCIALISM.
Do they realize how modest is Bernie Sanders " socialism " ? And yet the mainstream news media -his own Democratic party establishment - smears him as some weird old communist Russia loving Bolshevik . Naturally any form of SOCIALISM is anathema to our privileged plutocracy .

Problem with your argument is that Bernie actually IS an old communist Russia loving Bolshevik. He has been quoted as saying many things in support of that description. He told Phil Donohue that he is a communist. He said that breadlines are a good thing. He praises the communist slave state of Cuba because they have a literacy program. He praises the communist Chinese regime (50 million dead) because they brought so many people out of poverty (which only happened after Mao died and they abandoned their strict economic controls). He wants to nationalize health care, education, and daycare, among other sectors of the economy. He is in favor of putting control of corporations into the hands of the workers who are employed by their companies, but who did not take the risk of starting up and running those companies.

And he wants to spend 3 times the current federal budget to do these things. But, amusingly, he won't say how much it will cost or where the money will come from. He is a deeply unserious person.

I give your comment an UP vote because I realize that confirmed socialists -whatever their base of operations - have a lot of EXPLAINING to do . To be sure , the history of SOCIALISM as political movement right here in the United States has succumbed to collective amnesia.
In brief , I think " socialist " Democrat Bernie Sanders, for decades now, has more in common with the late Irving Howe, author of " World of Our Fathers ". In that book Howe explains the political evolution of numerous New York " radical " Jews.
In his youth Irving Howe was infatuated with Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and thrilled - as were millions of working class people-with the drama of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
That revolution was indeed betrayed as Trotsky said.
Nevertheless the democratic socialism as an ideal survived the nightmare Stalin era.
It also survived the nighmare McCarthyism era in the USA. It continues to defend those very ALL-AMERICAN principles of FREE SPEECH and FREE THOUGHT .
Bernie Sanders has nothing to apologize for - except perhaps endorsing " Corrupt Hillary " in the 2016 presidential election.
I would hope a once again "defeated " Bernie Sanders would advocate for an independent third party in the United States. WE THE PEOPLE need to institutionalize a THREE PARTY SYSTEM in the USA. The new party will resemble the British Labor Party in its CLASS base. Call it the American Labor Party. This has nothing in common with bloody , " revolutionary " chaos- unless the American plutocracy provokes it .
Who does not see that the present Democratic Party is as unstable as a U-235 nucleus ?
I too deplore the lack of civil debate in the United States. FREE SPEECH and FREE THOUGHT must always be respected simply because any group in power or craving power can be mistaken in their ideas and opinions.
To be sure , no individual or political party has a patent on SOCIALISM or the blessing of HISTORY . Belief in a Higher Power , in God , is the perfect anti-dote to fatal hubris.
Good luck to Bernie in Mass. on Super Tuesday !