tony_montana
Semper Fidelis
Um...scuse me for asking, but...what do hurricanes have to do with politics?
Wildcat said:Ok, back to the hurricanes now , I'm not sure that we can blame the intensity of hurricanes on the warming trend. The number of hurricanes, however, has been increasing in recent years, but many experts believe that there's a cycle based on the effects of el nino and la nina (which I really don't feel like going into ) The last few years we've seen a lot of hurricanes, but in the late 90's we were stuck in an el nino period and we barely had any. Everything's a cycle. In a few years the hurricane seasons will likely return to normal, or even below normal.
Deweyrules! said:This is kind of a continuation from the LGBT MITM FANS thread (I'm slowly learning to try and stay relevant to a thread ) I thought we could return to 'hardcore' politics disucssions LOL. Which of the ideologies are you most allied to? I do my final exams in politics next week, so I guess this acts as a form of revision for me too .
The majority of the Western world basis itself in liberalism and its varying forms (I not going into them all, becuase most of you already seem to know and I could right about 7 pages of explanation, which would probably be BORING). However, a more extreme version of the so called modern liberalism, is socialism. Many people of our age seem to upheld and idealistic, utopian belief in socialims, whereby everyone is equal. I personally disagree with this, I agree in the concept of equality of opportunity, i.e. everyone is given the same rights. However, I vehermently protest the concept of equality of opportunity, i.e. everyone is equal- those who earn more money should be taxed higher to ensure all people have the same.
I hold a firm belief that a country should operate a meritocracy, those who work hard get duly rewarded, therefore there is no real social class; but those who have worked hard get duly rewarded. I know, this too is idealistic, as there is always going to be a difference in financial benefit from a more 'acaedemic' job when compared with a more 'manual' job.
I guess what I'm trying to say, is that people shouldn't get punished for earning more money, they will invariable have worked hard to earn that money. Whereas in Britain (I don't know about other countries) it is often the consensus that these people should receive a high level of taxation to allow those who don't work to maintatin a standard of living. This would be fine if it were those unable to work for specific reasons, medical or phsycological. However, in Britain many people claim they are unable to get jobs and therefore receive benefits every week as well as free housing (often earning more than someone working hard in a crappy job).
This view, I know, is very unfashionable as it may seem eliteist, but I just feel that the current system is unfair. In Britain we have a tax called 'inheritance tax', basically if you die and you have a large amount of savings or a property in your name (perhaps you wish to leave it to your children) you will be taxed by often about 40%! There are even some incidences of taxation reaching 60%.
I know I've not really articulated my point particuarly well, so if you want any clarification just ask (I'm tired). So basically, what are your ideological beliefs- I guess I'm a neo-liberal with conservative tendancies.
Deweyrules! said:@Alfista Junior, having appeared to agree on almost every issue on this forum, possibly due to similarity of location (and to some extent) poltical systems in our respective countries (both have handed some of their soverignty to EU) I feel I should now raise the issue of the Common Agricultural Policy and Britain's rebate. It is quite evident that if the Common Agricultural Policy, set up prior to the EEC, by France, is to remain as it is, Britain should retain there rebate; a slightly lower one I admitt. However, it is evidently more economically advantagous to France that Britain and therefore, despite putting equal amounts of money in, the output received by France as a result is far greater.
What's your oppinion (mine may have had some media bias. I should also say I think the EU is extremely important in ensuring the economic power of our continent in relation to others)