Did anyone see John Stossel's "Politically Incorrect Guide To Politics" last night?

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Did anyone see John Stossel's "Politically Incorrect Guide To Politics" last night?

ABC's 20/20 last night was a John Stossel special: "Politically Incorrect Guide To Politics".

Stossel is a libertarian. This whole piece, while it started out fair enough by making the point that we expect too much of our politicians sometimes, quickly devolved into a libertarian propaganda piece. Every last bit of what was said was either pushing the message of 'no government no government' directly, or doing it through thinly veiled poorly thought out metaphors(rinkonomics?).

As a liberal, I was appalled. And further appalled by the people commenting on the 20/20 website(abcnews.com/2020) along the lines of 'it was a brilliant piece of journalism' when it was CLEARLY a libertarian propaganda piece. :tsk:

Watch for yourselves:

YouTube - 20/20 - Politically Incorrect Guide To Politics - Pt. 1 of 6

YouTube - 20/20 - Politically Incorrect Guide To Politics - Pt. 2 of 6

YouTube - 20/20 - Politically Incorrect Guide To Politics - Pt. 3 of 6

YouTube - 20/20 - Politically Incorrect Guide To Politics - Pt. 4 of 6

YouTube - 20/20 - Politically Incorrect Guide To Politics - Pt. 5 of 6

YouTube - 20/20 - Politically Incorrect Guide To Politics - Pt. 6 of 6
 
I caught the show. I admit I Was hugely disappointed as I thought it was going to be a fairly good show from what the trailers showed before it started. Then I quickly came to realize it was anti government. It was interesting though in the part about the folks in New Orleans who have had to and are STILL going thru the government red tape and miles of paperwork to rebuild after Katrina. Meanwhile celebs like Brad Pitt or organizations like HAbitat for Humanity come in and somehow manage to put up dozens of new homes at a time. Doesn't make much sense. IF the reporting is in fact true.

I wish I'd spent the hour on something else.
 
Clearly these anti-statist elements must be purged, the fairness doctrine should be reinstated to keep these dangerous opinions off the air.

I feel that it is great that some libertarian attitudes are being voiced, is the "FYM consensus" now pro-government, provided it has the right figurehead?
 
Clearly these anti-statist elements must be purged, the fairness doctrine should be reinstated to keep these dangerous opinions off the air.

I feel that it is great that some libertarian attitudes are being voiced, is the "FYM consensus" now pro-government, provided it has the right figurehead?

I guess it's "pro the right balance".
 
Clearly these anti-statist elements must be purged, the fairness doctrine should be reinstated to keep these dangerous opinions off the air.

I feel that it is great that some libertarian attitudes are being voiced, is the "FYM consensus" now pro-government, provided it has the right figurehead?

"fairness" doctrine
 
Every John Stossel piece that I have ever seen, in my opinion, has seemed terribly one-sided and a type of propaganda. He is always trying to make the viewer angry by making them think that someone else is ripping them off, etc.

However, there was one John Stossel interview that was supreme. Ahh, if only all Stossel interviews could end this way. Observe....

YouTube - Slap Slap Slappety Slap, Haha
 
Part 5 was particularly good. That answer to the question "Should we subsidise everything?" was very chilling. You can tell people make careers off of government philanthropy. Very greedy.

There is a role for government in education and health care going back to older classical economists like Mill and Smith. The new libertarians can go too far because they can ignore people who have catastrophic health problems that would bankrupt them, and the role of basic education. The main points are good for those who are healthy, and it's important to know that government is limited in what it can do for you. We will always have a mixed economy of some sort, simply out of necessity.

Libertarians are usually pretty good at pointing out where government promises to help people and how it fails despite taxpayer funding of those programs.

The main message is for the healthy people to get out there and get a job and figure your life out because if you wait for government to do it you will be waiting forever. Government doesn't have to be everywhere.
 
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