Cold War icon Ortega trades Marx for God
He [Ortega, Sandinista leader] has traded his wartime military fatigues for a white shirt and jeans. His guide, he says, is God, not Karl Marx.
This political event is emblematic of the healing rift between the extremes of Capitalism and Communism.
Karl Marx famously said "I am not a Marxist."
Karl Marx's "materialism" was driven by his spirituality. Like Jesus and Mohammad, Marx saw that social ills could be addressed by changes in economic policy. Marx came from a long line of Rabbis on both sides of his family.
As a child, Marx was baptized as a Christian. This was in order to side-step anti-Jewish discrimination and gain access to greater opportunity.This lead to his resentment for theocracy and his disdain for religion.
Karl Marx eventually became annoyed at the political opportunists who exploited his theories for their own political power-consolidation schemes. That is why he pointed out that he was not a Marxist.
I suspect Marx was a scientific economist who was used by a politically-motivated sugar-daddy. I figure Engels invested in Marx's analytical work with the stipulation that it be used in a political manifesto.
Other great leaders have been similarly misunderstood.
Jesus was not a Christian. A common prayer among non-christians: "Jesus, please protect me from your followers!"
Darwin was not a darwinist. Darwin only described "survival of the fittest". He did not propose it as a code of moral conduct.
Ironically, The "Christian Right" have embraced social darwinism as a code of conduct, materialistism as Godly, and Christianity as justification for war.
Their sexual values are also very Freudian, in the sense that they are very repressed and make good fodder for Freudian psychoanalysis, not that they understand Freud.
Allow me to introduce myself. I am a pompous intellectual. I like to opine about the big picture with unwarranted confidence.
Out with Thomas Friedman, in with Paul Gaskin. Out with the "Moustache of Insight", in with the "Goatee of Truth".
I'm arrogant enough to express my ideas as a list of bullet points. Simply absorb them like the verses of the Tao Te Ching.
Democracy and Socialism are not mutually exclusive.
Capitalism can be an expression of Democracy.
Unregulated Capitalism is not Democratic.
When capital consolidation is outlawed, only outlaws will be capitalists.
When capital consolidation is stifled:
Power consolidation finds other outlets.
Political power becomes the coin of the realm.
Consolidation of political power is the result.
Your vote is a form of currency.
Your money is a kind of vote.
*Your karma on DailyKos is a form of currency and a form of vote.
It's a vote/currency hybrid. (Game currencies are a hot new trend.)
We are trapped in a "managed dialectic"
We are trapped in an over-simplified understanding. The misunderstanding is deliberately used by propagandists to manipulate and divide people in order to stifle the cyclical nature of the game and consolidate capital and political power.
Stagnant capital stifles society.
Stagnant political authority stifles society.
The Forum and Quorum are structures of democracy.
The "user moderated forum" is not only a web application, it's also a very sophisticated new form of Democratic game.
Scoop is a big reason why DailyKos is special.
Scoop is a "user-moderated forum".
Democracy is a "voter-moderated republic".
Scoop embodies economy, politics and media.
Democracy stands on Three Pillars
Economy
Politics
Media
Each Pillar has a top and bottom
Consolidation is the top Distribution is the bottom.
Stagnant consolidation of capital topples the economy pillar
Stagnant consolidation of Political Authority topples the Political Pillar
Stagnant consolidation of Media topples the Media Pillar
Distribution of power is not always good.
Consolidation of power is not always good.
Democracy is Cyclical.
Democracy is a game with a reset button.
Resetting is power distribution: debt-cancellation, election, media-regulation
Democracy cannot exist in it's purest form without all three pillars in good standing.
Above all, I consider myself a Democrat, because the name implies an emphasis on Democracy.
I believe I'm the ultimate Democrat, because I want to take Democracy to the extreme. I will settle for nothing less than "Ultra-Democracy", the kind Chairman Mao warned us about.
I want free-based Democracy. I want to cook up the most powerful form of Democracy possible.
That's my plan with PeaceUnion.org