What's the point of being better than someone else?

States are violent to the extent that they have the power to act in the interests of those with domestic power

The U.S. is different from Europe and other industrial countries.

One might ask why tobacco is legal and marijuana not. A possible answer is suggested by the nature of the crop.

Selfish-gene theory tells us nothing about the value of interacting through language.

Stock ownership in the US is very highly concentrated. [Shareholder actions are] something, but it's like the old Communist Party in the USSR, it would be nice to see more protest inside the Communist Party but it's not democracy. It's not going to happen. [Shareholder actions] are a good step, but they're mostly symbolic.

The Republican Party has pretty much abandoned any pretense of being a traditional political party. It's in lockstep obedience to the very rich, the super rich and the corporate sector. They can't get votes that way so they have to mobilize a different constituency. It's always been there, but it's rarely been mobilized politically. They call it the religious right, but basically it's the extreme religious population.