FAREWELL, SILLY SAM!

It's time to restore capitalism and democracy to our republic. The long nightmare is over.

I just have to repeat previous comments, http://tinyurl.com/69frs8 before we kiss Silly Sam aka 'Joe the Plumber' goodbye forever: I've about had it with the 'Silly Sam' socialist garbage. You know who I mean: the guy who isn't Joe, isn't a plumber, has no brain between his ear and his mouth, who SHOULD vote for Obama this year but doesn't know enough to understand why. Yeah, THAT Silly Sam.
Facts are, Obama's policies will actually help 'Joe' save enough money to actually do what the lying jerk claims he wants to do. Further,his policies will help small businesses in general, since all of their CUSTOMERS will have higher disposable incomes. By giving more money to those at the bottom, i.e. 'spreading the wealth around' instead of concentrating it at the top, small business will see higher sales figures and ultimately greater profits.

The GOP has destroyed both capitalism and democracy over the past generation. We now live in a plutocracy, ruled by an aristocracy in all but name. We owe our thanks to what one pundit on HuffPost called "Reagan and his conservative confederates, who had nothing but ideas, almost all of them toxic."

Free markets are very effective at creating surpluses and allocating resources, but only in a static, short-term model. Over time, rewards become concentrated and ultimately help destroy the very competition fueling its efficiency, leading to cycles of boom and bust. Markets have to be 'free' to work properly, but that means that the role of government is exactly the opposite of what the radical right claims. While bad regulation can stifle markets, good law stabilizes and fosters them.

My Christian faith and life experience assures me that most people rarely lie, cheat, or steal. Most people try to do their best, and their sins tend to be those of indifference, pride, and ignorance. Liars, cheats, and thieves that I've met tend to rationalize actions that they know are wrong by claiming that everyone else is like them; a few are sociopaths who lack any empathy or moral sense at all.

with a few ground rules to preserve our democratic principles. These include:

1. Capitalism increases short-term efficiencies of resource allocation by competition; however, in the long-term, this concentrates wealth and destroys competition. Policies must actively favor the former by encouraging the existence of dozens of small and medium-sized businesses and minimizing the latter penalize conditions mandate two Walmarts and one grocery chain in every town, creating oligopoly and preventing competition.

2. There is a free flow of information-------not news filtering through a few corporations.

3. Government mandates and enforces labor laws that prevent anyone from making money by slavery-like control over any citizen or resident alien.

4. Costs associated with destroying public goods like the environment should be borne solely by those responsible.

5. Human life relies on drinking water. No one can 'own' the water supply.

6. Corporations and businesses are not 'people' and they have no 'rights'.