Being socialist as the alternative on the left.

Conservative ideals of understanding an immediately balanced budget according to the principles of doing justice. That is not learned from life; bullshit; who conned P.M., Brown in England. That must have been a liberal. But that would be like me. I don't get it about the Kyoto Protocol; is it going to stop us driving cars by 2016? I think the latest liberal view is that it WILL. Willed it already was to become conscious for alternative energy sources. Labour wants that; No?

 

the counterculture movement saves life

 

It might not stop you driving cars, but it may make you more concious about how much energy you consume.

For example the US has some of the cheapest fuel prices in the world as a result people choose to drive huge cars. Here in the UK where fuel is $7.20 a gallon then it's rare to find anyone driving anything over 2L.

 

I do agree about the environment how asking people to not drive so much is moronic, it's just typical, normal people are dependent on fossil fuels for transport, electricity and heat but not by choice.

The money is actually there to invest in researching alternatives, did you know that Japan has invented a wind turbine that is about 5 times better than the ones that Europe and America use. This is because Japan relies on nuclear energy but now noone in Japan wants to live anywhere near a nuclear plant because of the Fukushima disaster (the government says that there is a 40km radius, but I bet most people on here wouldn't want to live on the whole island....)

So that it what, 6 months of the government taking it seriously. Of course Japan is more focused on technology than pretty much everywhere in the world, but it isn't magic or anything, it's just necessity


on a semi irrelevant note about politics.....


I think it's fucking ridiculous how the government is blamed because suddenly they are in debt because they gave so much money to the banks

The money has gone upstairs not downstairs. The poor are richer than they were 20 years ago but it isn't a dramatic social change, the dramatic social change is that the richest people in society have much more of the money

In America George Bush II was one of the most radical presidents in recent history, changing civil rights and the economy massively, it was an abject failure, and yet it is blamed on socialism (because having a government is socialist or some shit, it doesn't matter)


what's the point? i blame morrisey

 

I'm not sure I see your point? You don't think that reduced emissions and car use are a sensible idea? Sorry if I've missed what your saying.

 

To paraphrase someone or other it's like turning up to an earthquake with a broom. America is a country of 250 million people which has been designed around cars, China and India make up nearly half of the world and noone except the elite could afford cars 20 years ago and they are growing so quickly and planning in smart ways how to keep growing and millions of people are getting their first cars and going 'WTF!? i can have a car? my dad didn't even have a toilet at my age!'

A car isn't just a thing to fanny about in as well, access to a car can solve unemployment, illness, exploitation.

I'm saying that it's ridiculous to ask people to be responsible consumers because that idea depends on having access to cars.

No need to apologise, I don't really know what I'm saying either

 

It a failure of planning that they solve unemployment. Decent public transport systems and city planning mean they aren't as needed. How do they solve illness and exploitation?

I've not travelled much in the US, but when I went I couldn't believe how spread out the cities are compared to Europe or India.

 

Thats' the major problem to get people to be less dependent on cars and switch to mass transportation. Trains, buses, trollys are not available like they are in Europe and Asia. We've engineered the car and highways for personal transportation not public transportation. And now all the old rail lines are being converted to walking trails for locals which is partly good but they would have been better keep[ing them and using them for light rail for public transportation. imo.

 

cars solve illness because you can drive to hospital

they solve exploitation because you can drive to the next town and work there

remember as well that we aren't talking about urban populations like in the developed world, if you live in the countryside in somewhere with no transport then you are at the mercy of geography. We all admire how those north african women carry big jugs full of water on their heads for 10 miles but that is kind of a useless skill, if they could just go and get the water in their car then they could carry cigarettes and wine on their heads

 

it's actually something i freak out about as an adult, i have no driving licence or car, never wanted one, but if my girlfriend was pregnant imagine how difficult everything would be after 6 months with no car, running out for taxis etc. for me it's a reason to get a driving licence, for half of the world it's just something they can't do anything about

 

and it is a failure of planning, but.... you know....

 

No, exploitation is part of capitalism, it works both ways, by allowing companies to broaden the workers they can recruit. Now you may not be against that, heck I work for myself (or not so much today, hence me posting lots), but it's a leap and a half to say they solve exploitation.

Not having a car is not the same as not having transport. Just imagine if the amount of resources that a nation spent on private car ownership and all the waste it entails was redirected. Public transpiration systems would be a dream.

 

I wasn't arguing for cars as the best mode of transport, I was saying why it's impossible to ask people to stop using cars when we depend on them

I think we should use tubes like in futurama

 

Now it might be at the moment...sadly it would take a brave government to try and turn on its head a 100 years of madness.

 

one step beyond

 

Exactly. My town basically has zero public transportation save for a couple of buses that run at erratic times. I just paid $167 in car taxes for the year. I would gladly pay that same amount every year for a comprehensive public transportation system.