[net.politics] Question about Social Credit

mrh@cybvax0.UUCP (Mike Huybensz) (10/21/85)

This question is addressed primarily to Rick McGeer and Jamie Andrews,
but anyone else is welcome.

Here in Boston, I occaisionally obtain a copy of "Michael Fighting",
an extreme (by my standards) right-wing Catholic flier which (when
not denouncing public schools and taxes as Satanic conspiracies) 
advocates Social Credit.

The Social Credit they advocate consists largely of the government
minting money and giving it to citizens, instead of taxing anyone.
Sort of a trickle-up scheme.  Please correct me if I've misunderstood.

Is this in any way related to the Social Credit Party you've been
discussing?  How important and influential are these people?
-- 

Mike Huybensz		...decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!cybvax0!mrh

robinson@ubc-cs.UUCP (Jim Robinson) (11/04/85)

In article <787@cybvax0.UUCP> mrh@cybvax0.UUCP (Mike Huybensz) writes:
>This question is addressed primarily to Rick McGeer and Jamie Andrews,
>but anyone else is welcome.
>
>Here in Boston, I occaisionally obtain a copy of "Michael Fighting",
>an extreme (by my standards) right-wing Catholic flier which (when
>not denouncing public schools and taxes as Satanic conspiracies) 
>advocates Social Credit.
>
>The Social Credit they advocate consists largely of the government
>minting money and giving it to citizens, instead of taxing anyone.
>Sort of a trickle-up scheme.  Please correct me if I've misunderstood.

I *think* that that is basically what Social Credit is about.

>Is this in any way related to the Social Credit Party you've been
>discussing?  

The Social Credit Party of BC does not advocate Social Credit. 
Whether this has always been the case I am not sure since I, unlike
Jamie and apparently Rick, am not a born and bred British Columbian.
What I do know of the Socreds is that they *claim* to be a free
enterprise party and are often called "the right-wing Social Credit
Party" by the various (especially Eastern) newspapers. Now why a
free enterprise party would bail out with tax payers' (i.e. my) money
a wine industry that was too STUPID to switch from red to white wine
as the trends had been clearly indicating they should is totally
beyond me, but they did. In my books that makes they're free enterprise
claim somewhat tenuous; as does their penchant for mega-project after
mega-project (again with tax payers' dollars), and their tolerance
of socialized car insurance which was brought in by the previous (NDP)
government.

>............How important and influential are these people? 

These people are the provincial government. Unfortunately, the 
alternative to the Socreds is the socialist New Democratic Party, 
and they don't make any bones about *not* believing in the
free market system.

J.B. Robinson