So, why do they fight so hard against drilling in California? I'm not saying we should give them free reign to pollute.
Originally Posted by Jewish Lawyer
For a variety of reasons, but most of all NIMBY but based on a pretty poor track record that the oil industry has in California.
I have to admit you are right. I dislike him for his former political leanings, and I guess I should have said that he cannot fairly be called a commie/liberal anymore. If anything, he is now a hybridized new creation that no one can control, so his ideology beyond just rapaciousness is perhaps meaningless. He wants, therefore he takes.
Originally Posted by Jewish Lawyer
Communists were never "liberal" or "progressive" but were merely dictators or oligarchies that used a ideological veneer of "Marxism" to plunder the aristocracy and middle classes as well as to differentiate their regimes from the fascists and monarchs. They were anti-captitalist, but the old saying of "if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...." applies. No where in the definition of "monarchy" or "dictator" were crowns or ermine required and Mao jackets ruled out.
Anyone obtuse enough not to understand that either hasn't bothered to read history at all or just shouldn't be commenting on anything political. Did the original founders of these Communist regimes start out believing in Marxist principles? Yes, probably, but they were quickly assassinated by more dictatorial successors or just set aside those principles in favor of enhancing their own personal power and maintaining the stability of their regimes.
That is why conservatives look so silly and ignorant even when they get all spun up over the hated
"Communism". These terrible "Communnists" were originally fighting for the people and against monarchy, monopoly capitalism and militarism. Not bad ideals, though they quickly went by the wayside (which is a testament to human nature, not the ideals). Were there quite a few liberal or progressive dupes in the early days? Yes, of course, but Communism was never anywhere close to the real utopian "communism" that the political theorists posited. This is just like there is nothing in the real world like the utopian "free market" or "libertarian" society that so many conservatives seem to want to see (except perhaps Sudan or Somalia which they generally won't respond about at all). One has to separate values and ideals to some extent from utopian theories so that the perfect is not the enemy of the merely good.