10 Things You Didn't Know About the F-22 Raptor

As someone who has also read the U.S. Constitution and it's amendments (it's strongly encouraged in my profession), I certainly agree with you that President Obama has not sidestepped the U.S. Constitution, and it serves no one make accusations not based in fact as that tends to cloud the true issues. I also certainly agree that eight years of the preceeding administration's economic policies have been severely lacking to say the least, althought the root cause of the mortgage crisis which led to the global economic meltdown clearly originated in the Clinton era tampering with the banking industry to provide a veritable cornucopia of loan products to people who had no business getting a mortage. I just have two small issues concerning the accuracy of your public service announcement.

1) It is no accident that countries working under a free market economy have acheived a higher standard of living for each of their citizens than nations that do not. Furthermore, those nations that truly strive to get out of abject poverty do so through a free market more than any other system. History has shown that nations have tried to "spread the wealth" through socialist or communist ideologies, but only succeeded in spreading the poverty. I could debate this at length, but in the interest of space I'll just say the free market does need regulation, is not immune to abuse, but is still the best chance for the individual to provide for his or her own measure of success.

2) Socialism is defined as the Government controlling private industry, not as the Government providing services through taxpayer monies. The U.S. Armed Services, Postal Service, National Park Service, and public schools are not private industries, were not private industries, and defining them as such is grossly inaccurate. While private schools, delivery services, and even private militia, are known to have been present throughout history, they were predominately niche services not readily available to the largely poor general public. Health care, however, is currently a private industry, and would be considered socialized should the Government take it over. (At least you didn't mention public roads as an example of a socialist service. Every time I hear someone say it, I know the speaker is ignorant.)

sc from AZ of AZ 10:27PM August 09, 2009