Just some updates, then a little on the economy

I'll just do a quick update on things in my own life then move on. I've developed a taste for movie soundtracks recently. Thomas Newman has some good shit, for example. It's terrific music, both for working and relaxation. I'm not too fond of "weird" film soundtracks, like what you see in cheesy seventies horror movies. I really like the dramatic/epic stuff though.

We've been doing persuasive speeches in my public speaking class. One of my friends in there, who has close to the same political views as me, and I joked that we were going to play a game in there: we would bring some hard liquor to the room, and every time someone did a speech about Obama, we'd do a shot. Of course we were joking. I'm a teetotaler myself, and I think he is, too. I figured if we did play this game, we would die of alcohol overdose.

Much to my surprise, though, they actually gave speeches which showed some sort of... rational thought. It was the strangest damn thing. This one girl in there who I know is fairly far right actually gave hers on why she disagrees with creationism, AND on how she agrees with the conclusions Charles Darwin made (GASP!). After I picked my jaw up off the floor, this other person gave a speech supporting vegetarianism, and explained how corporate meat packing is contributing to environmental destruction and climate change.

Holy shit.

I've done some studying of the former Soviet Union. I find it quite fascinating. Now, I don't really believe the USSR had it right all the way. I don't think their coercive tactics were justified. However they knew what to do with religion, I think. Contrary to popular belief, they did not force their citizens to be atheists. Their government merely discouraged religion, and kept society secular. This concept is something that I believe the U.S. should adopt. A secular government will be compassionate for its citizens, and its society will be advanced and prosperous.

It's fascinating to know that there was once a country in this world that was an atheist state, I think. Like I said, I disagree with their tactics of coercion. Stalin wasn't right to murder his own citizens like he did. There has NEVER been a perfect communism in this world, and there never will be. I despise capitalism, but human nature will not allow communism. I believe a strictly regulated capitalist government may be key. Maybe a tame socialism. The free market capitalism we have does not work, though.

We're seeing this system fail because of its own shortcomings right now. The remedy to this problem is only things such as government takeovers of corporations and collective advancement of our society (socialist concepts). It's just like World War II. FDR told the automotive companies that they were no longer building cars, but now airplanes and other war machinery. That is ultimately what saved us from the depression. Using a crisis to stimulate industry. This solved the crisis (the war) and pulled America out of the hole it found itself in.

But what sort of crisis do we face today, that industry could be used to help solve with government intervention? Some sort of crisis... maybe a global crisis... that industry could solve if the government told it what it was going to do.

Oh, yeah, climate change!

Perhaps if Obama told GM it was now going to innovate and build vehicles that run on little or no fuel, or if he told agrarian industry they were going to return to natural, organic farming methods (not this genetically modified shit), or if he told Exxon they were now going to invest in hydrogen fuel cell technology, or if he told energy companies they were now going to pour some funding into wind turbine and solar energy, or if he told engineering firms they were going to invest in carbon dioxide scrubbing technology... maybe then we could solve this global crisis and get our economy back on its feet.

But that would be SOCIALISM (ominous music)! Can't have that! Fuck no! Just listen to those (blatantly astroturfed) "tea parties". Capitalist ideals are what will save us (nevermind the fact that they're what got us here).

After doing some studying of the USSR, I've learned that communism probably isn't the key to saving our economy, but after looking at our own history, continuing recklessly down the road of capitalism isn't going to pull us out of the fire, either.