Snapped Shot

so any tax policies intended to create incentives or disincentives for consumer behavior is now like socialism to you guys? for my entire adult life tax incentives have been the centerpiece of republican policy.

when you waterdown the concept of socialist this much, everyone ends up being "socialist", even mccain.
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when i clicked the play button it said "this video is no longer available."

and you've got to be kidding about "Intentional price increases designed to modify individual behavior goes against everything capitalism and freedom is about." as i said above, that's all a tax incentive or disincentive is. you impose a tax on something(i.e. increase prices) to create a disincentive for some behaviors and cut taxes (i.e. lower prices) to create an incentive for other behavior.

that was a central tenet of reaganism. rather than direct regulation to prevent or require certain behaviors you use the tax code to influence behavior while still allowing individual choice. was reagan a socialist when he tried to disqualify abortion providers from tax exemptions (thus raising the cost of abortions)? by your logic virtually every republican in modern history advocates "scary stuff".

actually, i find it amusing just how far the right is willing to lower the bar on what counts as socialism during this election. i've spent some time in some old-school communist countries, as well as some modern democratic socialist ones. the blurring of lines between the two itself is rather funny in and of itself, as it just shows how profoundly ignorant some people are about the world (i mean, the difference between say sweden and vietnam is like night and day). the wingers seem to think that calling government action they don't agree with "scary" or "socialist" makes their argument more powerful, but actually i think it's proven to be completely ineffective. without the threat of soviet tyrrany red baiting just doesn't pack the punch that it used to. and the unintended consequences in all of this is that a lot of people are getting more sympathetic to socialism after hearing that policies they like (i.e. extending medicare to more people) being stuck with the socialist label.
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