@creative51 I do cede your point. It is a big task. But people revolt when they are exploited beyond what is tennable. I'm not sure if passive, evolutionary reform is possible in the USA when Capitalist oligarchs have your government by the balls. It would be nice to have Social democracy as found in Scandanavian countries where they enjoy a balance of capitalistic enterprise and social welfare justice. I would say education is key. If the public is educated reform can be enacted peacefully. Since my money is on Trump being re-elected I don't believe the people of your country (and my own country,for that matter) are ready for any level of egalitarianism.

@creative51 yes I agree but I still think he will be returned to office. But hey what do I know? I'm a sceptic not a psychic!

@MsDemeanour I totally concure...Trump will again be reelected demonstrating the complete breakdown and manipulation of our electoral process.

I predict we are going to end up with a true totalitarian regime or a revolution after the election...Not anything resembling an infallible psychic predictor here either...but the writing is on the wall. It has been since Reagan's election 40 years ago.

People are sitting around idiotically, thumbs up their arses completely failing to understand that it is our electoral process itself - filtered through the electoral college - causing this...Our electoral process has been manipulated...a little here, a little there, over time so that we didn't stand up against the change. This 40 year process has succeeded in achieving its aim - the few hold as much power (more actually) as the many - the mostly "liberal" or "finacially disenfranchised" many!

Screaming "Vote Blue No Matter WHO" isnt going to help at all, nor was it Bernie supporters who cost "Hillary Clinton" the last election. This is not a conclusion, delusion, our conspiracy theory I have come up with on my own. Political analysts and investigators all over the world - even our own champion of world wide fair elections - Jimmy Carter, and the appointed Mueller investigation team have stated this unequivocally - that it was the deliberate manipulation of the electoral college, state by state, that created this outcome. AND NOTHING HAS CHANGED. There has been zero reform.The folks that are screaming "Vote Blue No Matter WHO" don't seem to understand that they are helping to reinforce a this deeply misunderstood issue, In fact, this glib nonsense was probably created and promoted as a way to divert people from seeking any true political reform while we had the bluster and muster to do anything meaningful to change what is about to happen.

The Electoral College is functioning as designed AND as manipulated by our elected officials through redistricting and suppression of voters over the last 40 years.

The "Republican's" fronting for the would be "despotic totalitarian oligarchs", the "Super PACS" who pay for all the political campaigns on both sides, has won dominance and will not let go without a fight...and I mean a physical battle with full on slaughter of the opposition. They hold the government, the military, and the money. We are not but cannon fodder.

Like chicken and fish?

Like a noun and an adjective are similar? Care to elaborate?

@Paul4747 Yes, after four days outside the fridge.

@Paul4747, @MikeInBatonRouge Elaborate, well I have lived it.

@Jolanta the point of my question is that capitalism and Marxism are viewed as completely different economic models, not at all similar. I am intrigued by how you consider them very similar.

@MikeInBatonRouge The end is the same. A very small group of people control everything.

@Jolanta in theory that is quite different. In practice, I see now what you mean. It is not supposed to be true of Marxism, but history tells us it is.

@Jolanta amen and pass the biscuits...totally correct!

Your analysis is deeply flawed. Religion and Marxism are both total system ideologies (ideological systems which purport to include and explain everything). Our government was intended to be a democratic one in which reason and good judgement would lead to "a more perfect union0. The competition between points of view and beliefs is an inherent part of the system. Politics is inherent in the process. But, that competition does not need to and should not be one of pursuit of privilege, power, and unearned profit through distorted ideology and process.

@wordywalt My deeply flawed analysis was in response to the lead statement: “Politics and religion are evil...” It has nothing to do with ‘Marxism.’ If you care to debate that down a rabbit hole ...waste all the time you want, but not mine.

We’re at a pivotal point in our Democracy where those of basal instincts are winning by brute force … while snivelling overeducated elites attempt to shame them with ineffectual rhetoric.. If the statement above concerned only ‘Marxism,’ I’d have moved on. I suggest you do the same.

@Varn Let me remind you that it was you who said that you are a Marxist. I was simply pointing out how wrong your choice is. Your second paragraph is neither rational, nor civil. You sidestep all of my major points and simply come on with an emtional, not ideational barrage.

@wordywalt You may be losin it here, Walt… Sure you’re talking to the right person..? Never said I was a ‘Marxist,’ this is not my post.. I do however stand by my own statements ~

@K9Kohle789 I thought her “philosophy” was Objectivism (whatever that might be)

@K9Kohle789 You know, I have never read anything by Ayn Rand and I really do not care to so I don't know much about what she was talking about. I also have a heap of chronic pain, so I know where you are coming from. But no one is prescribing opiates these days. Which is another thing about NH-the Heroine problem is huge here. Many accidents, some fatal, happen on Rt. 93. After the user scores in Lawrence, they head up the highway back into NH. They cannot wait to get home to shoot up so by the time they get to exit #2 in Salem they are pretty wasted and there is quite the jam especially if it is Friday afternoon and all the Mass-hole are heading to the lake. lol

@K9Kohle789, @ThisIsPatrick I think she objected to helping other people. She was one of those " I have mine, fuck you" people-so they tell me. Never read her, never will.

@MyTVC15 I don’t know so much about that but I do know that many libertarians modeled their philosophy on her writings. What I’ve seen from libertarians is definitely in the I got mine department. I’ve actually thought about reading her works just to see what it’s about. But I probably won’t since I will most likely be annoyed by what she is expressing.

@ThisIsPatrick There is a book swap box in the park near where I live. I was checking it out the other day and one of her books was there. I shut the door and kept walking.

@K9Kohle789 Not really. It is true that her family was a part of the Czarist oligarchy and that they were totally dispossessed by the Bolsheviks. She hated communists, but she took that to the extreme of hating all government or limits on the individual. She took individualism to the extreme of anarchy.

It does not make sense to use one total system ideology (Marxism) to justify rejection of another (religion). It fact, it does not make sense.

That's a paraphrase and is taken out of context. Read in full, it takes on a different meaning:

Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.
The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.

Marx is not denigrating religion as something used to pacify the masses into a state of numb acceptance; rather, religion is their sole refuge and comfort in a world of suffering. They are conscious of their suffering, and they flee to religion for relief. The criticism against religion, as I read it, is that by promising rewards in an illusory afterlife, it distracts the people from changing their conditions in the here & now- something with which I agree.

@Paul4747 I don't believe that the context (which, I also read) changes my interpretation. Since the ruling class is using religion to control the masses and keep them content with their suffering.

To all those in pain who are mourning the loss of opiate, please consider medical cannabis if you have not already done so. It provides me with a great relief from chronic pain. It doesn't get rid of it but it helps.

@MyTVC15 In the context, the people themselves choose religion as a relief from suffering. It's as much a critique of weakness among the masses as it is of religion.

@Paul4747 The masses sure are showing their weakness these days, in more ways that one.

@K9Kohle789 For me it is a couple of ruptured disc from my former career as a nurses aide. I also have neuropathy and other nerve pain. You could say I am a nervous wreck.