ANTIFA vs NAZI: GOOD vs EVIL

The foundations of Liberal Democracy as implemented in the United States of America and the Constitution are under deliberate assault today by armed troops.

President trump is encouraging this attack through his actions and his pronouncements.

HISTORICAL PRECEDENT

Yale Professor Timothy Snyder describes how trump compares to Hitler and Mussolini in the 1930's here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-1930-thirties-fascist-dictator-adolf-hitler-reichstag-fire-trick-yale-historian-timothy-a7651766.html

"Picking out a group of your neighbors and citizens and associating them with the worldwide threat, that’s the 1930s' says Snyder.

WHO ARE THE AMERICAN NAZIs

The American Fascist troops carrying out this attack are the Alt-Right and NAZI supporters who use our liberal concept of tolerance to subvert our institutions.

They assemble under the guise of freedom of speech and incite intolerance of Jews, African Americans and Hispanic immigrants. Usually the NAZI and Alt-right troops carry weapons to their political assembly.

If they are countered by ANTIFA protesters, they claim that ANTIFA are the instigators and are the terrorists.

It is as Karl Popper said in 1945:

PARADOX OF TOLERANCE,

The paradox of tolerance, first described by Karl Popper in 1945, is a decision theory paradox. The paradox states that if a society is tolerant without limit, their ability to be tolerant will eventually be seized or destroyed by the intolerant. Popper came to the seemingly paradoxical conclusion that in order to maintain a tolerant society, the society must be intolerant of intolerance.

If NAZIs remain unchallenged today, they march down the street shouting 'Jews will not replace us,' and 'Blood and Soil,' both NAZI chants from the 1930's.

We must counter them at every turn. We cannot assume that the threat will dissolve:

GERMAN HISTORY

First they came ..." is a poem written by German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984). It is about the cowardice of German intellectuals following the Nazis' rise to power and subsequent purging of their chosen targets, group after group.

'First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.'

[wikipedia]

ANTIFA FIGHTS EVIL

At the moment there is only one group actively defending our freedoms: ANTIFA.

And yet, ANTIFA protestors are called terrorists because they stand in opposition to NAZIs. There are no good Nazis. Americans stand against NAZIs and Fascism. Those who stand against NAZIs are not terrorists, they are heroes fighting for good against evil.

ANTIFA must continue its campaign of actively countering every NAZI demonstration. One would like it that there is no violence, but the fight is between good and evil. Sometimes, there may be blood spilled,; if so, it is on the NAZI heads. For they are the ones attacking our values. Those who stand against evil will obey the law and will suffer the punishment of the law if the law is broken.

If left unchecked in the name of freedom of speech, the NAZIs will aim to overthrow our constitutional form of government and replace it with a fascist dictatorship wherein minorities and protesters are jailed and disappeared.

Restoring the US Middle Class - 7

7. Extend Utility Regulation

Utilities are Necessary Monopolies

There are some businesses which require a government protected monopoly for some reason; for example, some industries like electricity generation and distribution require such huge capital investments that investors will not make that investment unless assured of freedom from future competition.

In these cases it makes economic and national security sense to regulate the prices charged to the public so that the company earns a normal profit, which allows a return to investors sufficient to ensure survival and uninterrupted service provision, but does not allow for monopoly profits.

Utility Defined

Any industry whose products or services are regularly used by more than one third of the population and in which there are few suppliers is a candidate for public utility designation.

'A public utility, or utility, is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to state-wide government monopolies.' [wikipedia]

Public services regulated as monopolies in the United States have included water, sewer, electricity, natural gas, highways and roads, telephone and telegraph, airlines and railroads.

Often the service provided by the utility is a monopoly or oligopoly for a variety of reasons. One reason can be capital requirements: Perhaps the provision of the service requires huge capital investments such that the service provider could not attract the capital required to provide the service without a guarantee of returns to the capital providers. The guarantee is usually in the form that the provider will be insulated from competition.

Monopoly Power

Regardless of the reason for achieving or granting such monopolies or oligopolies, the effect is that the providers have such enormous power over customers that there is a great temptation to achieve monopoly profits by pricing the product or service at a higher price than would obtain in a competitive marketplace.

Monopoly profits can occur whether the industry is a monopoly or not. The test is whether the firm faces a sloping demand curve and can achieve monopoly-style profits by raising the price above and reducing the quantity sold below a competitive equilibrium.

If monopolies and oligopolies are allowed to earn monopoly style profits, the result will be greater inefficiencies in the market place and a transfer of significant portions of consumer surplus to monopoly profits; the effect would be to reduce middle class incomes further.

Regulation to Prevent Monopoly Abuse is Common

A common solution to this problem is to regulate the utility carefully so that it has the ability to earn a sufficient return to attract capital but is prevented from usurping consumer surplus into monopoly profits.

For example, many communities have Public Utility Commissions which regulate the pricing and practices of utilities. These are elected bodies which have the power to approve or reject rate changes and capital investments. This concept has been recognized in the United States for more than 100 years; for example, a Public Utility Commission was established as part of the Colorado Constitution adopted in 1876 as 2.26 ARTICLE XXV. Public Utilities.

When left to function in the public interest, these commissions frequently succeed in pricing the service close to what a competitive market might establish.

When that occurs, the public interest is served since the Utility is prevented from achieving monopoly profits.

In today's economy there are numerous examples of monopolies and oligopolies which do secure monopoly profits but are not regulated to prevent that occurrence.

Expand Utility Designation and Regulation

It is time to expand the number of industries subject to Public Utility Commission style regulation. Such an extension would reduce the accumulation of monopoly profits and the consequent reduction of middle class purchasing power. By that mechanism, we would see additional economic growth springing from an increase in middle class buying power.

And, I suggest we extend the candidates for such Public Utility Commission style regulation to include industrial products as well.

Utilities should include industries in which the final product or service is used by more than one third of the households AND in which the four firm concentration ratio exceeds 60%. Such a calculation will be allowed for city, county, and state as well as national public utility designations.

When considering industrial products which are not sold directly to households but are raw materials or components of other products, then we should consider only the concentration ratio. Whenever the revenues of the top four firms in such an industry exceeds say 70% of the total industry revenues, then the industry should be deemed a utility and a Public Utility Commission should be assigned to regulate it.

By adopting such a course, the United States of America will strengthen its Economic National Security by reducing the power of some monopolies and oligopolies to accumulate capital and by transferring some of that capital to consumers in the form of lower prices and greater access to products and services.

Alt Right Violence

When ANTIFA members physically attack alt-right NAZIs, it raises a question about tolerance and violence.

The answer is simple: NAZI intolerance is fundamentally evil and it must be resisted whenever it appears.

[See below the PARADOX OF TOLERANCE, Karl Popper in 1945; he suggested that we cannot tolerate intolerance among us.]

We have history of what happens when NAZIs win. It is not acceptable.

The Bible is clear: Evil is violence and must be resisted.

Then ANTIFA - Go forth and resist evil when it appears. Do not enjoy the violence, it is just a means to the end of defeating evil. Break their spirit but not their bones or their skin. Send NAZI evil back to the darkness.

Biblical statements:

Proverbs 13:2 'From the fruit of a man's mouth he enjoys good, But the desire of the treacherous is violence.'

Ezekiel 7:23. 'Make the chain, for the land is full of bloody crimes and the city is full of violence.'

Micah 2:1-2. 'Woe to those who scheme iniquity, Who work out evil on their beds! When morning comes, they do it, For it is in the power of their hands. They covet fields and then seize them, And houses, and take them away They rob a man and his house, A man and his inheritance.'

PARADOX OF TOLERANCE,

The paradox of tolerance, first described by Karl Popper in 1945, is a decision theory paradox. The paradox states that if a society is tolerant without limit, their ability to be tolerant will eventually be seized or destroyed by the intolerant. Popper came to the seemingly paradoxical conclusion that in order to maintain a tolerant society, the society must be intolerant of intolerance.

wikipedia - The Paradox of Tolerance

We Need Stronger Unions

See Restoring the US Middle Class - 1



The graph below shows which state have pre-empted federal Minimum wage, meaning that employers in these states do not have to pay workers the federal minimum.