©By Jack Ward
MichNews.com
Published Oct 27, 2008
Winston Churchill defined Socialism as “a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy; its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” So it is evident that Norman Thomas, a U.S. Socialist Party presidential candidate in the 1940s, was correct when he said “The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But under the name of ‘liberalism’, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day, America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.” Socialists believe that your life must be guided from birth to death by the government.
There is no question that the American principles of capitalism and free enterprise are under attack. The question is will America hold to the principles of capitalism and free enterprise or will it embrace elements of Socialism, Marxism and Communism?
To confuse the electorate, the Left cleverly avoids any use of the terms Socialism or Marxism and uses euphemisms to mask their agenda. ‘Progressive’ is new speak for Socialist, ‘economic justice’ means redistribution of wealth by government fiat, ‘restoring fairness to the economy’ is code for taxing the rich, ‘social justice’ is an expansion of the welfare state, and ‘investments’ are wealth transfers that fund the socialist agenda.
In unguarded moments the mask of the far Left slips and we see what they actually believe. During a hearing in the House of Representatives, far left congress critter Maxine Waters (D-CA) said, “Well, I can see that this congresswoman is going to favor nationalizing the oil companies, and making sure the prices go down.” Not to be outdone, Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) said, “We (the government) should own the refineries. Then we can control how much gets into the market.” Nationalizing private industry is what we expect from Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. Even Senator Hillary Clinton, (D-NY) said in 2004, “We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.” This sounded uncomfortably like Karl Marx, who said, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” And even Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama suggests we need to ‘spread the wealth’.
Barack Obama’s father, Barack Hussein Obama Sr. was a Harvard-educated Nairobi bureaucrat that also supported the redistribution of wealth. In 1965, he advocated eliminating private farming and nationalizing businesses. He also wrote, “…there is nothing that can stop the government from taxing 100% of income…” and … “I do not see why the government cannot tax those who have more and siphon some of these revenues into savings which can be utilized in investment for future development.” The younger Barack Obama has adopted many of his father’s Socialist beliefs. Unfortunately, this dysfunctional thinking is accepted as normal in the Socialist/Progressive/Marxist world.
Senator Sen. Joe Lieberman, former Democratic Vice Presidential candidate, was asked if presidential candidate Barack Obama was a Marxist. Lieberman said, “…must say, that's a good question … I'd hesitate to say he's a Marxist, but he's got some positions that are far to the left of me and I think mainstream America.”
Socialism is based on envy and the mandated sacrifice of others. It is the desire to possess another’s wealth and lower others to a shared misery. Successful Socialism is when all suffer equally. The fable about cooking crabs describes the Socialist mentality. When the pot filled with crabs begins to boil some crabs attempt to climb out of the pot. But the other crabs pull the escaping crabs back into the boiling water. In the end – all suffer the same fate.
Socialism does not encourage self reliance, responsibility or personal wealth. In fact, shirking responsibility is accepted. Socialism does not reward anyone for working hard because everyone receives the same reward. The best worker and the slacker are rewarded the same. Socialism equalizes misery and poverty while productivity and efficiency suffer.
An IBD/TIPP Poll measured American attitudes towards a prime tenet of socialism – the redistribute wealth and income. Even Obama’s supporters opposed redistribute wealth and income 54% to 28%. Obama’s popularity will crumble as soon as they realize that Obama is pushing a Socialist agenda that they oppose.
Copyright by Jack Ward