Huh. Whatever happened to "survival of the fittest" and "life is a struggle for survival"? Don't you endorse these ideas?
Maybe I'm just tired...But what does organized religion have to do with survival of the fittest? And if you're asking me if I have a "dog eat dog" mentality, I guess I would have to say yes...To an extent.
You said that organized religion "will eventually be the downfall of this country." This means that the organized religionists will have survived, they will have turned out to be the fittest, to win the struggle for survival. And if you're in favor of ideas such as "survival of the fittest" and "life is a struggle for survival," then you cannot but approve of organized religion.
I guess to simplify my viewpoint....I would say there is strength in numbers...At least for now...And, of course there are many atheists. But hardly organized, when compared.
To label the Republican party as the greatest enemy of the USA is absurd. It is clear that you have no love of said party, but your answer is infantile. The Republicans are clearly not the greatest enemy of the country: an increase in their power would not result in the destruction of the state (even if you want to get all abstract and suggest that their economic policies would denigrate American society). A REAL enemy is someone who has not only the potential power, but the potential WILL to bring America to its knees. Someone like Hu Jintao or Putin. Let's be serious here: there are currently no terrorists who could completely destroy the American state. Neither are there many Heads-of-State who could do it. The only way America could be destroyed - a reliable indicator of America's worst enemy - would be through nuclear war. And the only people who could match America bomb for bomb would be the Russian Federation or the People's Republic of China. There. First post. Hooray!
I take it you've been lurking for awhile?Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Anyway welcome to the forum. In this forum, I think my first post was a new topic designed to help introduce myself and give me an opportunity to get to know some of the regulars. After you've posted 20 times, you will be able to post links, pictures and Smilies. The pictures and smilies are limited to only 3 per post. 3 pictures or 2 smilies and 1 picture, any combination of 3. This forums software could use some upgrading, but that's a big job if you want to do it without impacting the members. However a little impact might be worth it, as I've seen much better software.
Technically, under the Republicans there would still be a state, but it would turn into a defacto theocracy with an elite class of rich people who get all the benefits of the tax code, and the rest of us, who will be wage slaves with no right to strike, no right to sue, and no right to object to pollution. It would be a police state with cameras everywhere, a private for-profit police force and prison system, draconian sentences for minor crimes like the pot, and adult punishments for juveniles. The education system would be gutted by vouchers and everyone would be taught to pass a basic test (also run by a private corporation). They would have to learn creationism at the very least, and probably a re-imagined version of American History in which minorities were non-existent and Ronald Reagan defeated the USSR with his bare hands. The Republicans are our greatest enemy, all the more insidious because they are us and we can't attack ourselves.
What nonsense. Only someone with a privileged upbringing could espouse such a sentiment. No matter who rules America, democrat or republican, it is still a country where people can go about their business with a modicum of life quality and choice. Try living in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Syria, Burma, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Algeria or North Korea. These are countries where it really is unpleasant to live. Not even a republican government could bring the state down to such a level of squalor. Proof? Well, noone in their right mind would have preferred to live in Saddam's Iraq than Bush's USA.
I think Bush would have liked very much to create an America like Saudi Arabia, that's their model of the ideal state. Of course they would still have to pay lip service to elections, but that's not too difficult to arrange. I bet the level of squalor in many parts of the USA are equal to that of a third world nation. To the extent that this country is still preferable to those nations, it's due to the influence of the New Deal, not to anything the Republicans have done lately.
I would have to concur with spidergoat, Marin. I don't think "threat" necessarily means foreign threat. To me the Republicans are a parasite that are sucking the life out of the country.
NO, IT IS THE TRUTH. While it is true I have no love for the current Republican Party, it does not follow that my answer is "infantile". That is you my friend invoking an illogical argument commonly known as an ad hominem. I suggest you do a little reading about the aftermath of WWI. Social chaos resulting from economic destruction can certianly bring about the destruction of the state. And there is nothing abstract about the economic policy or the policy of destruction as advocated by the current Republican Party. Just because you are unable or unwilling to understand, does not make something abstract. You really think Russia or China want to get involved in a war of assured mutual destruction? That is insanity.