The Opiate(s) of the Masses

I love arguing morality only to point out the resemblance people's Judeo-Christian morays bear to Marxist doctrine, then watch them twitch.

Socialism is a stage in the Marxist state prior to Communism; characterized by state ownership of the means of production, political power and economic planning vested in a centralized authority and unequal distribution of wealth. Remove the references to Marxism, and that would serve as a fair description of the role of the Catholic Church's role in state during the early middle ages.

The medieval doctrine of "just price" is a hallmark of both Socialist and Catholic social teachings. Originating with the Greek philosophers, and later advance by St. Thomas Aquinas, the just price is an ethical theory in economics that attempts to create a standard of fairness in transactions. It holds that there is an intrinsic price for any given good or service, regardless of people's wants, needs, desires, or supply and demand; and to charge more in the name of profit is amoral.

Socialism is doctrine developed by Marxist philosophers on the role of the state, social organization, economics, wealth and poverty.

Catholic social teaching is doctrine developed by the Catholic Church on matters of poverty and wealth, economics, social organization and the role of the state.

Both systems emphasize the welfare of the collective over the individual, and glorify the plight of the downtrodden inviting that they accept their role rather than aspiration to more.

Of course they're both wrong, it tickles me.