re: Off Topic: Governor's race. Walt Maddox vs. Kay Ivey

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and you think the governor has a lot to do in this?

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You think I'm strictly talking about the governor?

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Until, America embraces free market capitalism, this current corporatist direction will bring the nation serious trouble w/n the next decade.

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Free market capitalism = corporatism.

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I would never vote for a Democrat!

Every time you see Alabama come in 49th in any statistic, this ideology is a big reason why.

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Laughable. New York, California have a large democrat base and are very high Blue state. Texas is red and has a high amount of red.

Alabama is 49th, not for Democrats or Republicans, but a failure in a society that put emphasis on education, etc. I don't mean pour money into education, that has no bearing, but for families to push their children to succeed and accept nothing less.
Too many around the state, black and white, simply don't do this with their kids. The solution won't occur in one big swoop, but one family at a time taking responsibility.

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Hard for that to happen with the existence of the welfare state. Motivation to improve one's life doesn't appear out of nowhere. Ben Franklin was correct about the cure for poverty.

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Not sure what Ben really said, but it's a tough position. No one wants to see people starve, especially children. But, then you don't want to see people never try (nor want) to better themselves.

Manchin looking good in WV, thanks for the contributions Saban!

Nah, it usually means more regulations if any. It's the big guys know how to navigate their way through a labyrinthine rulebook. It's like when big business hire former IRS agents, b/c of their familiarity with tax code. Before its downfall, Enron was a huge support of the Kyoto Treaty. Why? B/c it was building plants in places like Africa (out of the treaty's supposed jurisdiction). Great for Enron, but a disadvantage for competitors who would have plants within the treaty's reach.

It's not uncommon for an ex congressman with no business background to suddenly find a job at a Wall Street firm like Harold Ford Jr. and Eric Cantor. Or for Facebook to do spying for the U.S. gov't. There are a myriad of other examples.

All Standard Oil did was split up. Whoopeee.... Nevermind that Standard Oil produced affordable fuel for the common man. Same with Alcoa. A natural monopoly is rare, yet government-produced cartels are abound. Besides government services like driver license and public education, we had cab cartels for a long time. It got so bad that NYC went decades w/o granting a new Medallion. Now that Uber and Lyft have arrived, folks that bought and owned alot of those medallions are SOL. Whoops.

I don't understand how corporations can completely own you in a free market. You can always refuse to buy their produce and service. Believe it or not, businesspeople (esp. founders) are not trying to enslave you.

One more factoid: Henry Ford wanted to develop Muscle Shoals, making it the next Detroit (no jokes please). This excited Alabamians and others that lived nearby, but a congressman from Nebraska stepped in and helped put a stop to it. Now the area is run by TVA, a creation of FDR's New Deal. Not quite as exciting, oh well.

You didn't really respond to my questions. You state that a natural monopoly is rare, but what evidence do you have to support that? We've never had a true free-market environment to test it, and prior to anti-trust laws, monopolies were a significant issue.

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You can always refuse to buy their produce and service

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Unless it is a utility or need-based service. I mean, you can choose to live in a cabin in the woods role-playing someone from the 1800s, but that isn't much of a choice.

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Believe it or not, businesspeople (esp. founders) are not trying to enslave you.

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I'd say that they are doing a pretty good job right now, even with regulatory systems.

He’s a prominent poli boarder so it makes sense.

My hope was that Doug Jones winning would give the Alabama Democrats enough of a boost that it would force the ALGOP to at least work for their races and quit trotting our clowns like Zeigler. I’m a Republican but I don’t want a candidate to win one primary and then be guaranteed multiple terms.

I think Jones’ hard left turn the last few months killed any hopes the Democrats had of at least being semi-competitive in this state. I think he could’ve done some good for Alabama Democrats but unfortunately, he decided to step behind Schumer.