Ted Rall for April 18, 2011

The most true, and as a result most depressing, depiction of the reality of American politics.

Go Cubs!

Of course, what we need is a thriving Communist party in control. Every thing will be just wonderful then. Just ask anyone where they tried it.

Gotta love old Ted. There are a lot of Commies on the Editorial cartoons pages, but he is the only one that is so open about it…

avarner

hunh? commies? the defense department has updated from commies to terries. didn’t you get the memo?

If the Dems are the “”Blue” team, and the GOP is the “Red” team, does that make the tea party the “White” team?

Way too true, Ted.

Rx71Wm29: No. They’re the extremely Red team.

avarner, what on earth does your comment have to do with this cartoon? And you obviously aren’t paying attention, if you think Ted Rall approves of the governments that go by the name of “Communist.”

Hey Commie mongers: The cold war ended years ago!

jrmerm,

The equivalence of “statism” with “tyranny” is false. It reflects a worldview in which one is either a controlled child or a free-to-do-anything-I-want adult. This equivalence fails to recognize that there are significant differences in how decisions are made in nation states; there are clear differences between communist, fascist, democratic forms of government —some way more tyrannical than others.

Having to meet social norms and conforming to the law seems most like tyranny to an adolescent, and rebelling against authority is an important piece of moving from dependent to independent. Then, with maturity, and an understanding of interdependent, most humans recognize that healthy anarchy is a pipedream in a world of disparate levels of emotional, social and cognitive development.

This equivalence of statism and tyranny fails to recognize, that as social beings that start out as children and mature, a healthy society requires that some entity step in and set boundaries for the children and the misbehaving. Good parenting is more desirable than bad parenting, but doing without a parent of some kind is a nearly impossible option. Same for government: good government is the goal, but no government is not an option (something will slide into this space….big corporations….manipulative marketing and financial firms…

We need a ‘nanny state’ of laws and justice….we all want a good nanny and not a bad one….

The honest people declare independent?

jrmerm: ‘“Statism” and “tyranny” are indeed not equivalent. But all political entities that are truly statist are invariably tyrannies.’

Your statement is an invalid syllogism, without substantial clarification of ‘statist’ and ‘tyranny.’

Wikipedia, “statism,” general philosophical term http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statism

Rand lexicon, “statism” http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/statism.html

…difficult to discern your point without a shared definition of ‘statism.’

MY POINT: humans are social animals. ALL human societies have some form of government, including intangible, rarely writ in law social norms with compliance strategies AND formal group governance structures, which in today’s world of nations, we define as the ‘state.’

AYN RAND: The political expression of altruism is collectivism or statism, which holds that man’s life and work belong to the state—to society, to the group, the gang, the race, the nation—and that the state may dispose of him in any way it pleases for the sake of whatever it deems to be its own tribal, collective good.”

The Objectivist Newsletter “Introducing Objectivism,” The Objectivist Newsletter, Aug. 1962, 35

Rand’s statement is a very clear indication of someone whose frontal lobes are not yet online,. Functioning frontal lobes in the brain allow a deeper understanding of altruism beyond I-do-what-I-want OR I’m FORCED to do what is best for the community. She believed that to do anything ‘sacrificial’ for anyone else or for the benefit of the community over one’s individual selfish interest was ‘tyranny.’

avarner: “Gotta love old Ted. There are a lot of Commies on the Editorial cartoons pages, but he is the only one that is so open about it…”

WOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That’s the sound of Ted’s point sailing over your head at supersonic speed.

^ Hee hee.

This cartoon is amusing but much too shallow & glib.