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What seems to be the social norm these days is for everyone to have a go at organised religion, calling it the root of all evil and openly declaring ones atheism like itself were a religion. But what our anti-religion friends forget to tell you, in between their unsubstantiated rants is the facts, and the facts are good.
Firstly, let us briefly examine the history of the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church came into being around 40 A.D with the first Pope St.Peter it became legal around 400 A.D (following 400 years or rigorous persecution) with the reign of Emperor Constantine. The Church continued as the one branch of Catholicism up until 1000 with the first schism and then leading up to the reformation in the 1500s. There have been no substantial break ups since the 1500s. In that entire time, around 2000 years the Church has never changed its stance on any area of teaching, it has equivocally held up the same teachings for over 2000 years. Those teachings for the most part have been of peace and following the teachings of Jesus Christ, and since when was following Jesus example a bad thing?
The Churchs role over the last 100 years has been nothing but inspirational, and a close examination will reveal the hidden mysteries that the religion hating moguls dont want you to see. In the 1940s in Germany no organisation or group of people stood up to Hitler except one, and no it wasnt a bunch of atheists it was the Catholic Church. Albert Einstein had this to say:
"Only the Catholic Church protested against the Hitlerian onslaught on liberty. Up till then I had not been interested in the Church, but today I feel a great admiration for the Church, which alone has had the courage to struggle for spiritual truth and moral liberty
Isnt is amazing how this fact is never publicised by those people?
Even in the last 25 years the Church has been the center of the criticism of horrendous governments, in the late 1980s what was the organisation that stood up to communism in Poland? Who was the man who rang the Russian president and ordered him to withdraw his troops from Poland? It was not the U.S President, it was the Pope. No one else, stood up to be counted. The Pope had the courage, and he and the Church stood up for what it believed in. What I find ironic is the same people that insult the Church were the same people who were calling for communism in the 60s-80s.
You might not agree with all the Churchs teachings on AIDS, abortion, homosexuals and even faith. But the Church is the only organisation in the world that a 100% record when it comes to protecting the human race, think about that next time you hear a rant, who do you count on to defend your rights, the hateful atheist or the Church that has been protecting rights for over 2000 years?
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Too often in our capitalistic society we hear the common upper class phrase poor people should just work harder, every time this horrendous muttering is spoken we as a society suffer as a result. It is not just about working harder, being poor does not mean you are lazy. Being poor means that our society has gone past you, its means that you have been disenfranchised by a society filled with a greedy and selfish nature. If this is news to you, and you still subjectively believe that poor people should just work harder, read these stories, with an objective mind.
It may comes as news to you but in the 1890s, Australia suffered one of its worse economic recessions. Every single bank in Australia closed down and ceased to exist along with the money in its over filling coffers. Imagine if that happened today, if Westpac, Commonwealth, NAB and ANZ closed down along with your money. Imagine the rebellion and imagine the poverty. A man named James Butlin was 65 at the times of the collapse he built himself a fortune out of fruit selling and was retired. He was living his golden years with wealth and affluence. But when the banks collapsed his money vanished, with no money or savings he could not afford to live. He was forced to sell his house. James at the age of 65 had to work the same job as he did when he was 13, shearing sheep. He went from the squatocracy to someone living on the street, shearing the occasional sheep, begging for money for survival. This is capitalism, this is our country.
In 2008, interest rates raised again for the tenth consecutive time. Tony Butlin, James great grandson works as a tire fitter, he is a member of the union. With the tenth rise, the house is repossessed by the banks, the locks are changed. He lives in his car, traveling the streets of suburbia hiding from the local ranger who will tell him to move on. He could be me, he could be you. This is capitalism, this is our country.
Many of us who work hard are rewarded, but in fact of the 100% that work hard only 2% control 50% of all the wealth. The rest of us thats 98% are left to fight for the other 50%. How is that fair? We all work hard, and our reward is a dogfight till the death, trying to get our grubby hands on just a small slice of the wealth. And its going to get a whole lot worse, with the economic recession closing on us, more repossessions seem likely, more poverty seems likely. We need to band together, we know we work hard, we know we ALL work hard. Lets get our share, lets spread the wealth. Let 2% control 2% of the wealth, lets bring in the democratic socialisation of industry and banks. Lets fix this bloody country.
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Recently I posted an article named 'Socialism Is Not A Dirty Word By John Stirlingclick here to see the article. It has received both of praise and criticism. In this follow up I would like to rebut the arguments against socialism that were raised is comments and emails.
Firstly, I totally and equivocally reaffirm my belief that Democratic Socialism is the best system of governance and economics that we posses. There is nothing wrong with putting some of the means of production into the hands of the workers, not the owners. We must spread the wealth, so that we no poor and no rich. Everyone is equal, there is no greed, no profit rather consumption. Every man is judged by his need not his want. Capitalism has had its turn, and its failed, it is the time of the worker. It is the time for Democratic Socialism.
Isn't John Stirling dead?
No that was just his dream of a socialist state.
Sorry it has been tried and did not work.
The above comment was made by the user 'Damo'. Firstly,John Stirling is not dead, the article was written by myself a few days ago, my name is John Stirling. Now Damo has alluded to the apparent failure of socialism no doubt in Russia, Cuba, North Korea, Eastern Europe and China what Damo has forgotten to mention is that the system in place in those countries was Democratic Socialism, it was ugly, ugly Communism. The type of Communism that was put in place was not Communism, it was a hybrid piece of Maoist/Stalinist shit. Democratic Socialism and the system of Communism in those place is not comparable. Democratic Socialism does not propose the state owning and running everything. Democratic Socialism provides for the workers through democracy to control both the economy and the country. Saying something does not work without it ever having been tested in the past and using evidence of countries that did not even have Democratic Socialism in place is just not fair. Show us a country where Democratic Socialism has not worked, there aren't any, it has never ever put in place. We should start the workers government.
There's no such thing as a perfect system - all man-made systems have flaws, it's just a matter of which flaws are more acceptable, and I much prefer capitalism to socialism because socialism erodes human rights and creates a small elite that have unchecked power over everyone else. They are not accountable to anybody but themselves, and even the most well-meaning person in this position is setting themselves up to be corrupt. When you are not exposing yourself to outside scrutiny you are foregoing your morality.
At least with democracy and capitalism you have the opportunity to complain about the system and campaign for an alternative. In socialist countries they suppress all opposition and demand that you align yourself totally with their system, whether you like it or not.
Resistance preaches democratic socialism, and I'm sorry but it's impossible to combine the two. Once you have a socialist system in place freedom of expression is seriously interfered with. In theory, it's a dream; in practice, a nightmare.
Also, socialism stifles innovation - since everyone makes pretty much the same amount of money there is less motivation to come up with new ideas and concepts.
So while I admire your idealism I think it's important to do more research on this text. Better yet, go to China, North Korea or Cuba and take note of how brainwashed and mindlessly conformist the people are. This is the result of socialism.
The above comment was made by 'postmoderncritic'. Democratic Socialism may have some flaws but if it does they are minimalist and incomparable to the huge flaws of capitalism, poverty is testament to the failure of capitalism.
Democratic Socialism does not erode human rights if anything rights are increased, Not only do the people control the government they also directly control the economy our realm of representation will be doubled. I'm not proposing a Communist Russia, I'm proposing a Democratic Socialist system where Democratic Socialism is elected into power and the means of production are in the hands of the worker not the owner. The parliamentary checks and balance as well as the judiciary will provide the same accountability they provide today. I do not remember proposing a dictatorship in my speech, rather a system of democracy and socialism.
With Democratic Socialism the opportunity to complain remains and you can complain with your vote by removing governments from office or even voting against reform or economic decisions. Democracy will still be in the system, in fact it will be increased as the worker will have more say in the economy. You say that 'socialist countries suppress the opposition', I would rebut that by simply saying that you are referring to the wrong kind of socialism, instead you are referring to the kind of socialism that Russia had. That was communism, not Democratic Socialism, it was the worse kind of communism. I am not advocating that for one second. Give me an example of a Democratic Socialist government where the opposition has been oppressed, you have evidence of ideological nightmares like Communist Russia suppressing opposition but not Democratic Socialism. Once again it is very unfair to say that Democratic Socialism and Communism is the same thing, its like comparing an apple to an orange.
Communism slows the economy and there is a lack of motivation, I agree. Democratic Socialism does not align itself to communist economic policy. Democratic Socialism promotes the means of production meaning big companies being put in the hands of the workers so that the companies are geared for consumption not profit. This means no greed and thus a better world Workers will be the paid the same wage as today, and obviously some occupations would pay more than others. But there would be an emphasis on need not want, and since when was that a bad thing? Furthermore in we have an economy for consumption not profit, then there an no recessions and no economic downturns. Imagine never having to worry about interest rates and unnecessarily high commodities prices again!
Finally, please do not compare Democratic Socialism to the system of governance in North Korea, China or Cuba. That is not Democratic Socialism that is idiotic, ideologically incorrect communism. They are incomparable and so they shouldn't be aligned or compared. Now, I have a question for you and anyone who disagrees with me go and look at the homeless, have a look at those people that struggle to make ends meet, the families who live on next to nothing. Finally go and have a look at the starving people in Uganda, Indonesia, Peru and Afghanistan and you look at them in the eye, and say " Yes, Capitalism is working, greed does not exist in Capitalism, your misery is not caused by greed" . If you can't say that, then you must agree that Democratic Socialism (where there is no greed) is the logical ideological improvement in both representation, governance and economically.
We must unite, put the world in the hands of the workers, not those profiteering from the flaws of capitalism.
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Parliament is supposed to be the start and end of society, but it is riddled with errors and needs urgent reform.
Parliament is supposed be made up of parliamentarians who represent their individual communities, this role has changed so much over time that MPs (especially in Federal Parliament) rarely represent their local community. Individual MPs usually act to represent their party and its policy. Obviously acting when within the bounds of party policy MPs are restricted to what they can do for their local areas. MPs become subordinate to party discipline, but this subordination also extends to the executives power over MPs. Due to the executives power and party alliances, parliament has in some ways become little more than a rubber stamp for the public record which leaves the real governance to the executive
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As the AFL season rages on with Geelong and the fall of West Coast the big news, few of us are aware that an equally important competition is also going on, that of the WAFL.
In years gone the WAFL was bigger then Ben Hurr and it provided WA fans with more then its fair share of football action. Many footy greats played their best years in the WAFL; examples include Polly Farmer, Brian Peake and George Doig. Well what has changed? WA is the still producing awesome footballers, WA is still a prominent football state but WA has changed, and changed for the worst
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Australian Yobbos draping themselves in Australian flags, bogans with stickers of the flag on the back of their Holden ute and hoons wearing shirts with slogans like if you dont like it get out or we grew here, you flew here. Please someone tell me, what is happening to our country?
Its bad enough with sport; we as ordinary Australians are constantly subjected to the barracking mentality of Australian culture. Sporting commentators and normal Australians alike constantly yap on about how sport is such an integral part of our culture and why sport shows the real Aussie spirit. Since when did kicking some leather with air in it become an important celebration of culture? This is what is happening, to our country. We had a culture once, glance back to Federation or even just after WW2, an emerging culture of youth and new Australianism came into existence. We still had pride in our country, more so than today, but we did not behave like we do today. Today we support our country in the same way we support a sporting club, this a dangerous mentality to have. Our country is not a sporting team, it is a country and it should be treated with some kind of reverence
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Commentators in this country of late have been championing the card of Kevin Rudd: The Man With No Substance. They argue that he is as plastic as the bumper stickers that bear his name and as shallow as Julie Bishops supporters, apparently he has no policy just a smile and some quiff gibberish about working families. People who have this opinion no doubt desire a return to the Glory Days, the return to Howard; a man so out of touch he lost his own seat being only one of two PMs in over a hundred years to do so.
In Howards first term as PM the only notable policy he introduced was gun laws (which was entirely circumstantial), partly selling Telstra (the fledging phone company) and trying to destroy Industrial Relations. None of these were important election promises, since Rudd has been in office for just under 200 days he has dismantled the idiotic WorkChoices, increased funding to non-government schools, signed Kyoto, said Sorry, started the process for a Republic, increased relationships with China and removed Troops from Iraq.Sounds like a lot, in fact more than Howard in a shorter time period. Rudd has delivered on his promises, his made the country more Labor which is what he intended and its what the Australian public voted for
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In this country we get far too much anti-zionism, we get this ignorant belief that the Israeli's are the bad guys who are attacking the innocent Palestinians. Recently there has been discussion about Israel's refusal to sign a short period truce with Hamas, let us remember that Hamas is a hardline Islamist Terrorist group, whose name appears on all most every Terrorist list in the world. Why would an nation negotiate with terrorists like Hamas, it would be like the USA signing a treaty with Al Qaeda, what a ridiculous sentiment.
Although we all sympathize with the Palestinians let us not forget that in 1948 we had a 2 state solution, one was Jewish the other Islamic, the Islamic state being the forerunner of Palestine and the Jewish state being Israel. The Islamic nation along with other Islamic nations declared war and publicly stated that 'Israel would be wiped off the face of the Earth', these nations invaded Israel but lost despite greatly outnumbering Israel. Again in 1967 Palestine and its allies attacked Israel on a Jewish national holiday, the equivalent of Ramadan, once again Israel defeated the Muslim nations
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Comment by Tom Craven
on The Catholic Church
Independent Australian