This forum is the only reason I haven't left DU.

[DonCoquixote]

31. playing with time and human life

allow me to analye this:

You said:
"and, therefore, the New Deal had not happened? And that you would be living right now in the same kind of country that existed before the New Deal? "

First, are you so sure the New deal would not have happened?, do not forget the socialists were not exactly shrinking away. Especialy with Europe ready to boil over into something (maybe not exactly the WW II we know, but the chances that some war between England, Germany and Russia would not happen was not likely, and our chance of not being involved were also unlikely.) However, the point is, you cannot say that if there was no great depression, there would have been a new deal, unless you have some hotline to the fates.

You said:
People will die. This is not preventable. Perhaps it's merciful that they die more quickly, rather than a slow, lingering, painful death. Regardless, people are going to die - and I may be one of them.

And who are YOU to judge that a lot of people dying is a good thing? Death is not preventable, but massive deaths, and please, let us not deny that depressions cause anythign BUT massive deaths, are at the very least, able to be lessened. Every person that died in the Great depression is someone whose life had value.

You said:
60 million people died in WWII. Should we have just let the Nazis take over, kill the Jews and spread throughout Europe? I'm sure if the world had simply let them take over, the number of deaths would have been fewer... in the short term.

Actually, a Great Depression prolonged WWII, as we were not in a psotion to stop Hitler without a lot of rehab. And let us not forget that the reason an Austrian washed up art student was able to win a lot of hearts is because Germany was starving. You cannot say that the great depression did not cause WWII, and every bit of carnage, from nanking to Auschwitz.

And also, let's not forget that as much harm as Stalin did, he could have always done worse. As much of a socialiost as I am, the depressing fact is that from Geroge bernard Shaw, to Woody Guthrie, many socialists really misjudged just how insane Stalin was. Do we want to see what he could have done with a years more time?

The point is not to play the parlor game of what if, the point is to show that playing games with people's lives is deadly..a man named Eric Hoffer said it best:

"those who are willing to sacrifice a generation to realize an ideal are the enemies of mankind."