Thread: Accusations of Socialism Against Barack Obama

Mar-09-2009 07:18
Accusations of Socialism Against Barack Obama
Tim King

It is questionable whether most of the accusers even know what Socialism is.




(SALEM, Ore.) - Detractors of the new U.S. President and developing American policy are increasingly using the word "Socialist" to describe Barack Obama's strategies.

In discussing Socialism in the U.S. and all the hype surrounding it recently, a friend said tonight on the phone, "I've worked with people from Socialist countries and they want nothing to do with that kind of lifestyle".

I had to ask at that point, "Socialist countries? Do you mean Communist countries that practiced some derivative of Marxism? Do you mean Russia?"

My longtime friend who has in fact spent time in some tough parts of Russia, stood corrected. He knows you can't compare socialized healthcare with Communism that in the end, even barely resembled the ideas brought forth by Karl Marx.

Wikipedia states, "Socialists mainly share the belief that capitalism unfairly concentrates power and wealth among a small segment of society that controls capital, creates an unequal society, and does not provide equal opportunities for everyone in society. Therefore socialists advocate the creation of a society in which wealth and power are distributed more evenly based on the amount of work expended in production, although there is considerable disagreement among socialists over how, and to what extent this could be achieved."

After eight years of this nation being gouged and ravaged by the extremely irresponsible politics of George W. Bush, I wouldn't be surprised if that kind of ideology had some form of appeal to the beaten down American public.

We all know the stories of the CEO's making millions of dollars a year and even using federal bailout money to buy new corporate jets. The way business is conducted in the United States has become nothing less than disgusting and people are sick of it, and at the end of their rope.

This is how I see Obama's position:

There is a really clean hot rod that has been through a lot of races and has plenty of miles. It has been in a wreck or two and the engine's been rebuilt, but the body shop and mechanics have always been able to keep this baby running and looking good. Every few years, a new driver takes the wheel, and the car goes to President Bush who drives it around for eight years. When he hands the keys to Obama, nobody ever recognizes the car. It has been wrecked so hard the frame is bent, the floorboards are rusted through, the interior is in shreds and a title loan company wants a ridiculous amount in order to get the pink slip back.

As far as I can tell from research, President Obama is not part of or even affiliated with the Socialist Party. It is a complete and total stretch, like trying to tie him to a former terrorist who he once sat on a board with; a person who committed crimes when Obama was a seven-year old boy.

This is a nation where people are branded with insults if they try to help poor people. It is as if it is an anti-Christian nation rather than a primarily Christian one.

But for those intent on stating that Obama is Socialist, I will keep describing what the Socialist Party actually is and what it means.

According to their Website, The Socialist Party's goal is to create a radical democracy that places people's lives under their own control: "A non-racist, classless, feminist socialist society... where working people own and control the means of production and distribution through democratically-controlled public agencies; where full employment is realized for everyone who wants to work; where workers have the right to form unions freely, and to strike and engage in other forms of job actions; and where the production of society is used for the benefit of all humanity, not for the private profit of a few."

The party states that socialism and democracy are one and indivisible, and they see the working class as a key and central position to fight back against they call "the ruling capitalist class and its power".


"The working class is the major force worldwide that can lead the way to a socialist future - to a real radical democracy from below. The Socialist Party fights for progressive changes compatible with a socialist future. We support militant working class struggles and electoral action, independent of the capitalist controlled two-party system, to present socialist alternatives."

Rather than referencing Communism, the Socialist Party says they strive for democratic revolutions, including radical and fundamental changes in the structure and quality of economic, political, and personal relations.

The party wants to "abolish the power now exercised by the few who control great wealth and the government. The Socialist Party is a democratic, multi-tendency organization, with structure and practices visible and accessible to all members."

While those goals and aspirations all stand to make a great deal of sense, they still are not the specific policies that President Obama is calling for or putting forth. Perhaps if insurance companies did not essentially run this nation, as many suggest they do, we would not have created a system of healthcare that has a ridiculous and unrealistic price tag for the average American; a person who still counts a great deal yet is discounted easily by the spirit of American corporate business.

Then you have the pharmaceutical companies which frequently charge Americans ten times what Canadians are charged for the same medications. These companies push the envelope at pricing and people have lost their ability to cope financially.

The United States has always been a nation of advancement. Today our average age of life is 78.6 years. People live longer in places like Bosnia and Herzegovina, South Korea, Jordan, Singapore and Monaco. The United States is wrought with problems regarding the care of our aging populations and the convalescent hospitals have proven time and time again to have little interest in patients but lots of interest in devouring their life savings.

The capitalist system has had its day in the United States and it appears that as an idea, it has failed under immense deregulation. It seems that our last President has plenty to value and treasure and his relentless pursuit of war and funding for Haliburton and other groups while sending Americans off ill-prepared into combat, has had exactly the affect most expected it would when it all began. Sadly, the country is different now and with the lack of support and continued assaults on our new President, it probably won't be getting better any time soon.

Win or lose though, I strongly suspect it won't fail legitimately over anything to do with Socialism or Acorn or a man named Reverend Wright who had the guts to stand up and talk about life and social injustice as if he had a pair. If it fails it will be over greed.


http://www.salem-news.com/articles/marc ... 3-8-09.php

Bla,Bla,Bla,Bla,Bla.

He was connected with the National Democratic Socialists in his early days in Chicago.

The capitalist system has had its day in the United States and it appears that as an idea, it has failed under immense deregulation

What a crock! The capitalist system is choked with regulation. It's was the govt. intervention in Fannie and Freddie, forcing loans to people who couldn't afford them, that started this whole mess. Banks don't loan money to people who can't pay them back, but they will if coerced by the government and the government is going to back the loans. A free market system would have NEVER made those loans.

At this point I think that socialism would be the least of our worries.....let's deal with the attempt at all out communism and/or islamic rule headed our way first, and take up the socialism issue later