Comrade Obama? by Patrick J. Buchanan (more by this author) Posted 10/31/2008 ET
If Barack Obama is not a socialist, he does the best imitation of one I've ever seen.
Under his tax plan, the top 5 percent of wage-earners have their income tax rates raised from 35 percent to 40 percent, while the bottom 40 percent of all wage-earners, who pay no income tax, are sent federal checks.
If this is not the socialist redistribution of wealth, what is it?
A steeply graduated income tax has always been the preferred weapon of the left for bringing about socialist equality. Indeed, in the "Communist Manifesto" of 1848, Karl Marx was himself among the first to call for "a heavy progressive or graduated income tax."
The Obama tax plan is pure Robin Hood class warfare: Use the tax power of the state to rob the successful and reward the faithful. Only in Sherwood Forest it was assumed the Sheriff of Nottingham and his crowd had garnered their wealth by other than honest labor.
"Spread the wealth," Barack admonished Joe the Plumber.
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his need," said old Karl in 1875. When Barbara West of WFTV in Orlando, Fla., put the Marx quote to Biden, however, Joe recoiled in spluttering disbelief.
West: "You may recognize this famous quote: 'From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.' That's from Karl Marx. How is Sen. Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?"
Biden: "Are you joking? Is this a joke?"
Biden's better defense, however, might have be the "Tu quoque!" retort: "You, too!" -- the time-honored counter-charge of hypocrisy.
Indeed, how do Republicans who call Obama a socialist explain their support for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, welfare and the Earned Income Tax Credit? What are these if not government-mandated transfers of wealth to the middle and working class, and the indigent and working poor?
Since August, the Bush-Paulson team has seized our biggest S&L, Washington Mutual, and largest insurance company, AIG. It has nationalized Fannie and Freddie, pumped scores of billions into our banks, bailed out GM, Ford and Chrysler, and paid the $29 billion dowry for Bear Stearns to enter its shotgun marriage with JPMorgan Chase.
And with federal, state and local taxes taking a third of gross domestic product, and government regulating businesses with wage-and-hour laws, civil rights laws, environmental laws, and occupational health and safety laws, what are we living under, if not a mixed socialist-capitalist system?
Norman Thomas is said to have quit running for president on the Socialist ticket after six campaigns because the Democratic Party had stolen all his ideas and written them into its platforms.
Did Ike repeal the New Deal? Did Richard Nixon roll back the Great Society? Nope. He funded the Great Society. Did Ronald Reagan cut federal spending? Nope, defense spending soared. Bill Clinton slashed defense, but George Bush II set social spending records with No Child Left Behind and prescription drug benefits for the elderly under Medicare. Surpluses vanished, deficits returned, the national debt almost doubled.
Is the old republic then dead and gone, in the irretrievable past? Are we engaged in an argument settled before we were born?
In his 1938 essay "The Revolution Was," Garet Garrett wrote:
"There are those who think they are holding the pass against a revolution that may be coming up the road. But they are gazing in the wrong direction. The revolution is behind them. It went by in the Night of the Depression, singing songs to freedom."
Nevertheless, there is a difference not just of degree but of kind between unemployment compensation for jobless workers, welfare for destitute families, and confiscating the income of taxpayers who earned it -- to hand out to chronic tax consumers who did not.
This last is the socialism Winston Churchill called "the philosophy of envy and gospel of greed." And it is this suggestion of socialist ideology in Obama's words that has produced the belated pause by a nation that seemed to be moving into his camp. What did Barack say in 2001?
He spoke of the inadequacy of the courts as institutions to bring about "redistributive change" in society, of the "tragedy" of the civil rights movement in losing sight of the "political and organizing activities on the ground that are able to bring about the coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change."
Normal people don't talk like that. Socialists do.
This is ideology speaking. This is the redistributionist drivel one hears from cosseted college radicals and the "Marxist professors" Obama says in his memoir he sought out at the university. It is the language of social parasites like William Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn and Father Pfleger.
Enforced egalitarianism entails the death of excellence. For it seizes the rewards that excellence earns and turns them over to politicians and bureaucrats for distribution to the mediocrities upon whose votes they depend. One need not be Ayn Rand to see that Barack has picked up from past associates utopian notions that have ever produced nightmare states.
Obama's New Attack on Those Who Don't Want Higher Taxes: ‘Selfishness’
October 31, 2008 10:58 AM
On the stump this week, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has pushed back against Sen. John McCain's description of his tax policies.
"The reason that we want to do this, change our tax code, is not because I have anything against the rich," Obama said in Sarasota, Fla., yesterday. "I love rich people! I want all of you to be rich. Go for it. That’s the American dream, that’s the American way, that’s terrific.
"The point is, though, that -- and it’s not just charity, it’s not just that I want to help the middle class and working people who are trying to get in the middle class -- it’s that when we actually make sure that everybody’s got a shot – when young people can all go to college, when everybody’s got decent health care, when everybody’s got a little more money at the end of the month – then guess what? Everybody starts spending that money, they decide maybe I can afford a new car, maybe I can afford a computer for my child. They can buy the products and services that businesses are selling and everybody is better off. All boats rise. That’s what happened in the 1990s, that’s what we need to restore. And that’s what I’m gonna do as president of the United States of America.
"John McCain and Sarah Palin they call this socialistic," Obama continued. "You know I don’t know when, when they decided they wanted to make a virtue out of selfishness."
It's unclear if this was a nod to the Ayn Rand book "The Virtue of Selfishness," with all that the invocation of Rand implies.
It would seem to be, given the themes of Rand's work, what happens when independent achievers are demonized.
Which would fit with this description of those who want to keep their hard-earned tax dollars as "selfish."
it’s that when we actually make sure that everybody’s got a shot –
I find it rather hilarious to see a black man stand up on national tv, running for the president of the united states, making such an absurd statement. EVERYONE DOES HAVE A 'SHOT'. A shot that obama took advantage of. Actually, the financially lower class and lower middle class have more opportunities than the middle to upper middle class. There is college grants, government affordable health care, social programs such as food stamps, heating assistance, day care assistance and WIC programs. There is the NAACP that offers tuition for college. There is nothing left accept to go cook their meals, hand feed them, do their laudry and clean their houses.
Get up off you a**! We live in the greatest country in the world with more opportunities than any other nation. I mean really....
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Excuse me, Mr. Obama... I mean Senator Obama, sir. Um . . . know you're busy and important and stuff.
I mean running for president is very important and . . . ah . . . I hate to bother you. I'll only take a minute, okay, sir?
See, I have these missing pieces that are holding me up, and I was wondering, sir, if you could take time out of your busy schedule and help me out. You know, no big deal, just some loose ends and things.
I can't seem to get some information I need to wrap this up. These things seem to either be 'locked' or 'not available'. I'm sure it's just some oversight or glitch or something, so if you could you tell me where these things are . . . I . . . I . . . have them written down here somewhere . . . oh wait. Sorry about the smears. It was raining out. I'll just read it to you.
Could you help me please find these things, sir? 1. Occidental College records -- Not released 2. Columbia College records -- Not released 3. Columbia Thesis paper -- Not available, locked down by faculty 4. Harvard College records -- Not released, locked down by faculty 5. Selective Service Registration -- Not released 6. Medical records -- Not released 7. Illinois State Senate schedule -- 'Not available' 8. Law practice client list -- Not released 9. Certified Copy of original Birth certificate -- Not released 10. Embossed, signed paper Certification of Live Birth -- Not released 11. Harvard Law Review articles published -- None 12. University of Chicago scholarly articles -- None 13. Your Record of baptism -- Not released or 'not available' 14. Your Illinois State Senate records -- 'Not available'
You couldn't get a job at McDonalds and become district manager after 143 days of experience.
You couldn't become chief of surgery after 143 days of experience of being a surgeon.
You couldn't get a job as a teacher and be the superintendent after 143 days of experience.
You couldn't join the military and become a Colonel after 143 days of experience.
You couldn't get a job as a reporter and become the nightly news anchor after 143 days.
BUT...
From the time Barack Obama was sworn in as a United State Senator, to the time he announced he was forming a Presidential exploratory committee, he logged a total of 143 days experience in the Senate. That's how many days the Senate was actually in session and working. After 143 days of work experience, Obama believed he was ready to be Commander In Chief, Leader of the Free World... 143 days.
We all have to start somewhere. The Senate is a good start, but after 143 days, that's all it is - a start.
AND strangely, a large sector of the American public is okay with this and campaigning for him. We wouldn't accept this in our own line of work, yet some are okay with this for the President of the United States of America? Come on folks, we are not voting for the next American Idol!
By FREDA GHITIS First published in print: Monday, November 3, 2008
AMMAN, Jordan — By now you can picture the Arab world in a frenzy of excitement over the elections in the United States. I certainly expected that when I landed here. After all, one of the candidates, Barack Obama, presents a sharp departure from traditional American presidents.
Imagine my surprise, then, when the first person I asked about the U.S. election told me he thinks Obama is not experienced enough and believes John McCain would make a better president. I could scarcely believe my ears. He quickly read the astonishment on my face and pleaded with me not to reveal his name. The pro-Obama enthusiasm I thought I'd find in the Arab Middle East is not exactly bubbling over.
In every other region where I have traveled, the local papers featured frequent and prominent pictures of the candidates with articles on the campaign. Europe is buzzing with anticipation.
I thought my impressions might be unusual, perhaps limited to one country, but a new opinion poll in the Muslim world confirms my experience. A Gallup survey of six Muslim countries found support for Obama is stronger than for McCain, but rather underwhelming. In fact, the poll showed a strikingly low level of interest in the American election.
In Pakistan, an astonishing 90 percent said they don't know who they prefer, or refused to answer. Obama's highest support came in Saudi Arabia, at a not-quite-resounding 50 percent. The mild enthusiasm among Muslims may come as a result of Obama's heavy courting of the Jewish vote; his strong expressions of support for Israel, and his tough rhetoric on matters such as cross-border raids by the United States in Pakistan. It may also stem from the undercurrent of mistrust in the Arab world, which ascribes incalculable and sinister powers to Jews.
Jordanians with whom I have spoken are following the American elections, and almost all favor Obama. Still, among his supporters few hold great illusions that he will bring a great deal of change to this region. They expect whoever is elected will be looking out for the interests of the United States. People here know about the economic crisis, and they believe that the next U.S. president will focus on that.
The good news for Obama is that in the Arab world he will not face the trap of excessively high expectations. The bad news is that an Obama election may not automatically repair damaged attitudes, as so many had predicted.
It is 9:45pm and it appears that unless there is a miracle, our next president will be Obama.
electorial votes - obama - 200 mccain - 90
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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