My previous post contained an error and has now been removed.
In brief, my error was to suppose that handicapped citizens need to pay twice for vehicle registration. It is not true, however I haven't got time now to spell out the details of my misunderstanding .
In other respects, my previous remarks stand. However, once again, I haven't the time at this moment to spell that out. Suffice it to say that the roads in my neighborhood are in a state of extreme disrepair. And the local tax office is surrounded by shrubs that obscure the sign indicating that a tax office is located there. All of that being evidence of the continuing class war--a war against ordinary people waged by the capitalist class.
No, I am neither a Marxist nor a communist; however that phraseology seems to me to be inevitable, unavoidable, and I know of no better way to describe reality. The fact that many citizens of the USA will find such a vocabulary disturbing is only evidence of how bad the situation is. (If you live in a class society--one without upward mobility--yet believe there are no classes, what hope have you of understanding your society?)
gmooh
note:
why not a "Marxist"? Well, I've never studied Marx.
why not a "communist"? As that term is used by North Americans, it seems to mean someone on the "wrong side" during the "cold war", or someone who sympathizes with "the enemy", the Soviet Union. However, if one tried to use the term more carefully, I am frankly unsure what it would mean. As far as I know both socialists and communists think that the people who work in the factories should run the factories--but anarchists think that to.....So, while my sympathies are undoubtedly on the left, I find it hard to be more specific. To be sure, the communists in the USA who changed policies according to Moscow's views did do damage to the US labor movement, so that is a mark against that branch of the left. So, I suppose that would be a reason for me to avoid calling myself a communist. (If the USSR dared to call itself "socialist" that had all the validity of the so-called democracy of the USA 'democratic' party.....)
Recommended Reading:
For details of how the American Communist Party actually damaged the union movement in the United States, see Sharon Smith, Subterranean Fire, Haymarket books:
On the lack of upward mobility, see:
See, e.g., J. Quiggin's Zombie Economics. (I hope to add a more specific reference in the future.)
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