Rush Limbaugh going off on Pope Francis's exhortation

[ishii]

Rush's character and motivations were the issue being discussed, especially after the glowing praise his character received in post #128.  My observations just bring balance to this detractor of our Pope.

You seem to be a walking example of an ad hominem:

Years of listening can cause you to grow accustomed to what Rush says, so that what seems outrageous and inflammatory to others seems fine and normal to you.

Again, rather than deal with substance, you engage in attacks and insults.

Never fails.

 

[ishii]

Some people treat capitalism like it is religion, like it can do no wrong, that simple market forces will always lead to the best of solutions.

Straw man.

Baloney! Like any humanly contrived system, it needs to be regulated. Without constraints, capitalism would still be exploiting workers with unsafe workplaces, pitiful wages, and a host of other evils that have been brought under control by government and unions. Yes, capitalism may be the best economic hope of world, but that does not mean that it does not need to be reined in to make it a decent and humane economic system. Regulation is not synonymous with socialism. The Pope rightly discerns that government has a certain responsibility to its citizens. I am sure the Pope would support some sort of health care guarantee for the poor, but that does not mean he supports socialism. After all, what is government but the people, and what is the responsibility of people in the moral order, but to love one another? This is not to say that we need to have a government controlled approach to health care and other community problems. There are ways to solve our responsibility to the needy through free enterprise solutions. It would take some government regulation, but it would not have to entail a government takeover of the industry. We should all work to achieve more fairness in society while maintaining as much freedom as possible. Too often we go to one extreme or the other, but hopefully we can learn to find the happy medium. Free enterprise with only those constraints necessary to ensure fairness should be our goal. Totally unbridled capitalism that leads to the tyranny of large corporations is no better than total socialism in which the government is the tyrant. We don’t want a country where only people with money are free, nor a country where no one is free under a large oppressive government. We need to find a happy medium.

Where is this “unbridled capitalism” that you speak of? In America it is regulated. In fact, it is regulated to the point that it limits the opportunities for the very people we should be trying to help. Do not look to the American left for a happy medium.

Ishii

 

[LeafByNiggle]

Where is this “unbridled capitalism” that you speak of? In America it is regulated. In fact, it is regulated to the point that it limits the opportunities for the very people we should be trying to help. Do not look to the American left for a happy medium.

Straw man yourself. JamesCaruso’s posting was not about America’s supposed need for more regulation. He was responding to Rae8, who was in turn agreeing with the general content of the Pope’s exhortation. There was nothing in JamesCaruso’s posting that made any comment whatsoever about the state of unbridled capitalism in America. Nor did he say that the “happy medium” was to be found in the left.

 

[JamesCaruso]

Straw man.

Where is this “unbridled capitalism” that you speak of? In America it is regulated. In fact, it is regulated to the point that it limits the opportunities for the very people we should be trying to help. Do not look to the American left for a happy medium.

Ishii

I am not sure what you mean by strawman; I am simply stating what I believe is a fact, not arguing for or against anything previously said.

As for the rest, I don’t disagree with you. Did you think that I did? In fact, I believe that in America we are very much over-regulated. I am not looking to the left or the right. I am hoping that somehow as a country we will find a happy medium. Neither the far left nor the far right (speaking of size and role of government) will be much use in bringing this about, IMHO, except by providing models to react strongly against.

 

[CatholicGuy22]

Truth

 

[ishii]

 I am not sure what you mean by strawman; I am simply stating what I believe is a fact, not arguing for or against anything previously said.

James, your post below is a text book example of a strawman:

Some people treat capitalism like it is religion, like it can do no wrong, that simple market forces will always lead to the best of solutions. Baloney!

Here is why it is a Strawman: You misrepresented another’s position in order dismiss it. No one here has made the claim that the free market will always lead to the best of solutions. No one here treats capitalism as a religion. Strawmen arguments are a waste of time and frankly a bit dishonest.

 As for the rest, I don't disagree with you.  Did you think that I did?  In fact, I believe that in America we are very much over-regulated.  I am not looking to the left or the right.  I am hoping that somehow as a country we will find a happy medium.  Neither the far left nor the far right (speaking of size and role of government) will be much use in bringing this about, IMHO, except by providing models to react strongly against.

You might not want to look to the left or to the right, but unfortunately, what else is there? If you have found some kind of glorious, alternative “third way” to bring about the best possible society then by all means, do tell. The arguments made by what is called the “far right” in American is in reality only a reaction to the left’s never ending quest to transform our society into a secular leftist euro-style social democracy. What is “far right” about disagreeing with Obamacare? What is far right about wanting a balanced budget, not spending more than we take in and not leaving the bill to future generations? That sounds more like common sense than any hard headed “far right” ideology. I think labels like far-right are used as perjoratives to describe people who merely want a return to common sense in government.

Ishii

 

[estesbob]

Truth

Who is “they”

 

[ishii]

Who is “they”

Since he is from Brazil, I’m guessing he’s referring to the wealthy class - the landowners, etc. As opposed to the peasants. Problem is, in central and south America, the communists would speak the language of charity - helping the poor, etc. while seeking to establish dictatorships that were allied with the Soviet Block - ala Cuba and Nicaragua. Castro wore a rosary to curry favor from liberals in the Church. I am sure you are aware of this already.

Ishii