Just to be clear, though I call myself a Leftist and Progressive, I hold ultimate disdain for all political parties and movements. I might be a Socialist if actual socialists weren’t naive idiots, bickering with each other about syntax and paragraphs in Das Kapital. I could be a monarchist under a benevolent King or Queen, accept I find it utterly impossible to follow any single person much less groups. I have no interest in following a leader or even having one. Can’t be a Libertarian or anarchist because those are top down organizations deluding themselves with notions of egalitarianism. The Tea Party? The worst of the worst of cult followers who don’t know they’ve been manipulated. Fascism? It’s masturbation into the winds of history. Theocracy? Tantamount to cutting off parts of your own body to eat because you’re afraid of going hungry. Communism is simply a peasant collective and cousin to capitalism. Both devour themselves, just at different rates. Republicans and Democrats? Marketing and PR firms with the power of the state to crush dissent and true choice. As antithetical to actual freedom and justice as a vendateria is to fine cuisine. That brings me to pure democracy. Tried it with Occupy. Works for a while, until people find they can make money and have power. I watched as Occupy dissolved into a hierarchy of a few and then nothing. So what to do then? Use each of them interchangeably as tools not as belief systems. Discard when useless, store in the attic when unnecessary, replace when broken, update and reinvent regularly. Or stepping stones, if you will, their value only is in their proximity and convenience in getting you across the river.