“Those who think they're free just haven't come to the end of their leash.” - Michael Parenti
American Marxist scholar, political analyst, historian, and author Michael Parenti has died at the age of 92. He was an outspoken critic of American capitalism, imperialism, and class inequities, whose intellectual works were celebrated around the world. He was the author of over 20 books, including Democracy for the Few and Superpatriotism.
“Well, I argue that one of the functions of a capitalist state is to defend capitalism from itself, to defend capitalism from the capitalists. It was Marx — dare we mention him? I hear he’s coming back in style. It was Marx who said one capitalist will kill many other capitalists, that the system begins to consume itself. We see that with Bernard Madoff [Bernie who made off with a lot of other people's money] and the like.…The free market does not work. It’s not free. It’s not really a market; it’s a plunder. And it has to be done away with.” - Michael Parenti
Michael John Parenti (Sept. 30, 1933–Jan. 24, 2026) was an American political scientist, academic historian, and cultural critic who wrote on scholarly and popular subjects. He taught at American universities and also ran for political office [1]. Parenti was well known for his Marxist writings and lectures [2, 3] and was a heroic intellectual of the American Left [4]. More
Who can say? One billion or more Buddhists in China go uncounted in official figures because, officially, all Chinese in China are communist atheists with no interest in religion, just a love of business, STEM, and tech.
The exact same thing happens in the United States, and any American can see it at the largest Buddhist temple in the western hemisphere, "Going West" (Hsi Lai) Temple, in Los Angeles, California:
"China" is actually called the People's Republic of China (PRC). Officially, it is a communist state governed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Officially, the CCP is guided by socialism with Chinese characteristics, which it describes as Marxism adapted to Chinese circumstances [184].
The 14th Dalai Lama is considered a demon.
The Chinese constitution states that the PRC "is a socialist state governed by a people's democratic dictatorship that is led by the working class and based on an alliance of workers and peasants" and that "the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party" [185].
The PRC officially characterizes itself as a democracy—more specifically, a whole-process people's democracy—that is organized around the [Russian] Leninist principle of democratic centralism [186].
However, the [empire or] country is commonly described as an authoritarian one-party state and a dictatorship [187, 188] with some of the world's heaviest restrictions in many civil rights areas, most notably AGAINST:
freedom of the press,
freedom of assembly,
free formation of social organizations,
freedom of religion, and
freedom of the Internet [189].
"Freedom of religion"? Not for Tibetans, Uyghurs
China has consistently been ranked among the lowest as an "authoritarian regime" by the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index, ranking at 145th out of 167 countries in 2024 [190].
But other sources suggest that terming China as "authoritarian" does not sufficiently account for the multiple consultation mechanisms that exist in the Chinese governmental system [191].
Freedom of religion is guaranteed by China's constitution, although religious organizations [like peaceful Falun Gong] that lack official approval can be subject to state persecution [198].
The government of the country is officially atheist, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) requires its members to be [or at least say they are officially] atheist [479].
Religious affairs and issues in the country are overseen by the National Religious Affairs Administration, under the CCP's United Front Work Department [480].
Guanyin in neighboring Mongolia
The "Three Teachings" of [spiritual] Buddhism, [social] Confucianism, and [philosophical] Taoism have historically shaped Chinese culture [481, 482], enriching a spiritual and philosophical framework of traditional religion that harks back to the early Shang and Zhou Dynasty.
Chinese folk religion, which is framed by the Three Teachings and by other traditions [483], consists in allegiance to the shen[Japanese kami], who can be:
deities of the surrounding nature or
ancestral principles of human groups,
concepts of civility,
culture heroes and heroines, many of whom feature in Chinese mythology and history [484].
Among the most popular cults of folk religion are those of
In the early decades of the 21st century, the Chinese government has been engaged in a rehabilitation of folk cults—formally recognizing them as "folk beliefs" as distinguished from doctrinal religions [487] and often reconstructing them into forms of "highly curated" civil religion [488]—as well as in a national and international promotion of Buddhism [489].
China is home to many of the world's tallest religious statues, representing either enlightened Buddhist beings or deities of Chinese folk religion; the tallest of all is the Spring Temple Buddha in Henan. More
European Buddhist nun in Chinese: "Stop comparing, start living"
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