Unemployment, and so on

[Jester]

France isn't perfect (especially right now). But nevertheless, as Thomas Jefferson said, "When the government fears the people, there is democracy. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny." --A beautiful quote, and one I happen to agree with.

My sense is that French political elites are extraordinarily arrogant about their position of power, and that they no more fear another 1793 than they fear the moon crashing into the earth.

I'm a strong advocate that power should rest and be shared with the common man, not a vanguard party (which would be the view of someone who subscribes to the Marxist-Leninist branch) that could lead to cure being more destructive than the disease itself. It is my opinion that anyone who is in a revolution for the chance at having a power grab to satisfy their own interests, is against the interest of the revolution itself, and therefore has no business being a part of it. Lenin was a brilliant individual. But I do not agree with his methodology or his view that self-determination belongs to the state. Plus, it allowed opportunists like Stalin to take advantage of the circumstances. So far, pretty much all of the Marxist revolutions have been from the authoritarian leftist side of things, which is unfortunate. The orthodox Marxists, anarchists, and libertarian socialist revolutionaries never really got a fair shake

This is all very nice, but once again, it's about the form of power, and not the content. What are you actually advocating doing? What policies do you recommend? Even if you have correctly diagnosed society's symptoms, that's a long way from having a cure.

I just tried searching for the source of that quote. A lot of sites have Marx as saying it but none of them say the primary source where he said it. Unless he said it in person and not in one of his works. I may have to read the Manifesto again, I can't recall if it was said there.

I suggest that Marx neither said it, nor meant what it says. He was many things, but a diehard democrat is not one of them.

-Jester