Second Bet

Here's my second bet, if things don't improve in two years time, the comments you've heard from the right about socialism will be nothing compared to the comments you'll hear from the left. Communism fell just long ago enough that people have greatly forgotten about it, and since it's becoming increasingly hard to put your faith in capitalists, several people will begin to think communist.

The argument works like a statement I saw a few times during the election, "You say they're going to take wealth from the rich and distribute it to the poor. So these rich... would they be the bastards that told me I could afford that huge mortgage? Would they be the ones who encouraged me to run up lots and lots of credit card debt? Would these guys be the one who sank my 401k? Would they be the ones who are now taking away my house and letting things collapse so I got laid off and making it hard for my kids to get health care? Would these rich you speak of also be the ones who have been stealing everything that wasn't nailed down for the last ten years or so? Because frankly, I would like to see them get stripped of their possessions. I'd like to see them lined up against a wall and shot for their crimes and I don't mind living under Communism for a while if it means that'll happen."

And then Barack Obama was elected and everyone said he'd defeat the White Witch and bring Christmas back and everything.

No, I'm not saying Obama is a closet socialist, I'm saying that claiming he was might have actually been and advertisement for him because people with nothing left to lose don't care anymore.

I'm also saying that if confidence in capitalism isn't restored soon, we could go communist. Being Americans, we'll go commie in a big way too. This will not be social liberalism, this will be hard core commie. I mean let's face it, we don't do anything halfway in this country. We'll be everything Stalin ever dreamed of being, and it will suck like a Hoover with a black hole in it.

The only way I can see to avoid it is to treat these corporate criminals real criminals. Give them hard time in hard places. Quit letting them off with light sentences in soft prisons. People want vengeance, and they'll take justice if it comes along with it. If we can't show people that the people who really hurt them are being punished, then they'll go to someone who can show them that.