Unemployment, and so on

[Jester]

If you don't like the idea of revolution, than what are your solutions? If you have possible solutions involving reform, I'd love to hear them. But otherwise it is naive at best. I suggested that everyone vote for someone who was outside the two party system, or we could all just refuse to pay our taxes come next April. But as you said, this isnt realistic. The government is bought, period. As long as their symbiotic relationship with the multi-nationals, the Fed, and Wall Street is in place, do not expect any kind of democratic reform to take place. Both the corporations/financial institutions and their cheer-leading squad in Washington will do everything they can to keep their power and wealth, at our expense. Look at France compared to us.....Government fears the people there, cause they dont want a repeat of 1789. Here, we fear our government, and they know so cause the most we ever do is put up a bunch of colorful signs with fancy slogans in protest, with a little civil disobedience here and there. Thus the abuse and corruption continues. The ends justifies the means, for both us and them (wonderful Pink Floyd song btw). We can continue on the same path, content to being subjects of the oligarchy, and hope one day that change will come (and come it will - for the worse). Or we can take matters into our own hands.

(Because everything is just roses in France?)

"Taking matters into our own hands" sounds very good. But it is a plan for taking power, not a plan for using it. That, traditionally, has been the problematic bit for Marxist revolutionaries. What's your plan, once the levers of power are in your grasp, once the buck stops at your desk?

Same with "vote for someone else." Sounds great, until we have to turn it into a practical alternative. Who? Ross Perot? Ralph Nader? The Libertarian Party? The Worker's World party? There are all sorts of alternatives, but there is a reason they don't overturn the existing structure: even if you could get every single person to agree NOT to vote for the Democrats or Republicans, you still would have no agreement on whom to replace them with. You'd replace divide in two, with divided in twenty.

By the by, where is that Marx quote in your sig from? I can't find a source on it, and Wikiquote says "disputed." Doesn't sound like Marx.

-Jester