Yahoo News: Obama a Socialist?

[ClosedCaption]

Obama a socialist? Many scoff, but claim persists - Yahoo! News

This is far from a new phenomenon — the use of "socialist" as a political epithet in the U.S. dates back to pre-Civil War days when abolitionist newspaper editor Horace Greeley was branded a socialist by some pro-slavery adversaries. In the 20th century, many elements of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal — including Social Security — were denounced as socialist. So was Medicare when it was created in the 1960s.

But to many historians and political scientists — and to actual socialists as well — the persistent claim that Obama is a socialist lacks credence.

He's widely seen as a pragmatist within the Democratic Party mainstream who's had ample success raising campaign funds from wealthy Wall Street capitalists. Even some of his strongest critics acknowledge that his administration hasn't sought one of the classic forms of socialism — government control of the nation's means of production.

One little Factoid:

One tidbit they might learn: The Pledge of Allegiance — the epitome of American patriotism — was written in 1892 by a socialist clergyman, Francis Bellamy.

rut roh..

 

[The Infidel]

Socialist.... Marxist....who cares?


All I now is he is NO Capitalist.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Sure, he's not

 

[RDD_1210]

Socialist.... Marxist....who cares?


All I now is he is NO Capitalist.

Just more proof that these words are interchangeable to you nutters.

"Who cares what the word means, I know I don't like this guy"

 

[SniperFire]

Where my Obama money at?

 

[PoliticalChic]

Obama a socialist? Many scoff, but claim persists - Yahoo! News

This is far from a new phenomenon — the use of "socialist" as a political epithet in the U.S. dates back to pre-Civil War days when abolitionist newspaper editor Horace Greeley was branded a socialist by some pro-slavery adversaries. In the 20th century, many elements of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal — including Social Security — were denounced as socialist. So was Medicare when it was created in the 1960s.

But to many historians and political scientists — and to actual socialists as well — the persistent claim that Obama is a socialist lacks credence.

He's widely seen as a pragmatist within the Democratic Party mainstream who's had ample success raising campaign funds from wealthy Wall Street capitalists. Even some of his strongest critics acknowledge that his administration hasn't sought one of the classic forms of socialism — government control of the nation's means of production.

One little Factoid:

One tidbit they might learn: The Pledge of Allegiance — the epitome of American patriotism — was written in 1892 by a socialist clergyman, Francis Bellamy.

rut roh..

Let's review the program endorsed by Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, et. al....it could be correctly called socialism, or anarchism, or boilerplate communism....

...it's the attributes, not the time of definition, that remain.


1. "If income equality is the new political religion, occupied Zuccotti Park was its Mecca. Liberal journalists traveled there and spewed forth torrents of ink on the value of protest, the creativity and spontaneity of the occupiers, the urgency of redistribution, and the gospel of social justice. Occupy Wall Street was compared to the Arab Spring, the Tea Party, and the civil rights movement. Yet, as many a liberal journalist left the park, they lamented the fact that Occupy Wall Street wasn’t more tightly organized. They worried that the demonstration would dissipate without a proper list of demands or a specific policy agenda. They suspected that the thefts, sexual assaults, vandalism, and filth in the camps would limit the occupiers’ appeal.


2. The truth is that the violence is not an aberration and Occupy Wall Street should not be laughed away. What we are seeing here is the latest iteration of an old political program that has been given new strength by the failures of the global economy and the power of postmodern technology....The occupiers have a lot more in common with the now-decades-old antiglobalization movement. They are linked much more closely to the “hacktivist” agents of chaos at WikiLeaks and Anonymous....The idea is utopian socialism. The method is revolutionary.


3. ...dream of cooperative villages where workers would see their poverty alleviated and their spirits transformed. Inspired by the success of his New Lanark community in Scotland, where employees lived in hospitable conditions and the children of laborers received early childhood and primary education, ...to bring to America exquisitely planned spaces where a new, improved mankind would come into being. Owen thought his scientifically organized village would “lead to that state of virtue, intelligence, enjoyment, and happiness, in practice, which has been foretold by the sages of past times, and would at some distant period become the lot of the human race!” Utopia, according to Owen, was not confined to the printed page. Utopia could be realized.


4. The utopian’s other great hatred is for middle-class or “bourgeois” culture. Monogamy, monotheism, self-control, prudence, cleanliness, fortitude, self-interested labor—these are the utopian’s enemies. “Morality teaches man to be at war with himself,” Fourier wrote, “to resist his passions, to repress them, to believe that God was incapable of organizing our souls, our passions wisely.” What were called the bourgeois virtues had been designed to maintain unjust social relations and stop man from being true to himself. Thus, to recover one’s natural state, one “must undertake a vast operation of ‘desanctification,’ beginning with the so-called morality of the bourgeoisie,” wrote the twentieth-century utopian Daniel Guérin. “The moral prejudices inculcated by Christianity have an especially strong hold on the masses of the people.”
Anarchy in the U.S.A. | The Weekly Standard


With hope that you may now begin to understand....

 

[RDD_1210]

Obama a socialist? Many scoff, but claim persists - Yahoo! News

This is far from a new phenomenon — the use of "socialist" as a political epithet in the U.S. dates back to pre-Civil War days when abolitionist newspaper editor Horace Greeley was branded a socialist by some pro-slavery adversaries. In the 20th century, many elements of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal — including Social Security — were denounced as socialist. So was Medicare when it was created in the 1960s.

But to many historians and political scientists — and to actual socialists as well — the persistent claim that Obama is a socialist lacks credence.

He's widely seen as a pragmatist within the Democratic Party mainstream who's had ample success raising campaign funds from wealthy Wall Street capitalists. Even some of his strongest critics acknowledge that his administration hasn't sought one of the classic forms of socialism — government control of the nation's means of production.

One little Factoid:

One tidbit they might learn: The Pledge of Allegiance — the epitome of American patriotism — was written in 1892 by a socialist clergyman, Francis Bellamy.

rut roh..

Let's review the program endorsed by Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, et. al....it could be correctly called socialism, or anarchism, or boilerplate communism....

...it's the attributes, not the time of definition, that remain.


1. "If income equality is the new political religion, occupied Zuccotti Park was its Mecca. Liberal journalists traveled there and spewed forth torrents of ink on the value of protest, the creativity and spontaneity of the occupiers, the urgency of redistribution, and the gospel of social justice. Occupy Wall Street was compared to the Arab Spring, the Tea Party, and the civil rights movement. Yet, as many a liberal journalist left the park, they lamented the fact that Occupy Wall Street wasn’t more tightly organized. They worried that the demonstration would dissipate without a proper list of demands or a specific policy agenda. They suspected that the thefts, sexual assaults, vandalism, and filth in the camps would limit the occupiers’ appeal.


2. The truth is that the violence is not an aberration and Occupy Wall Street should not be laughed away. What we are seeing here is the latest iteration of an old political program that has been given new strength by the failures of the global economy and the power of postmodern technology....The occupiers have a lot more in common with the now-decades-old antiglobalization movement. They are linked much more closely to the “hacktivist” agents of chaos at WikiLeaks and Anonymous....The idea is utopian socialism. The method is revolutionary.


3. ...dream of cooperative villages where workers would see their poverty alleviated and their spirits transformed. Inspired by the success of his New Lanark community in Scotland, where employees lived in hospitable conditions and the children of laborers received early childhood and primary education, ...to bring to America exquisitely planned spaces where a new, improved mankind would come into being. Owen thought his scientifically organized village would “lead to that state of virtue, intelligence, enjoyment, and happiness, in practice, which has been foretold by the sages of past times, and would at some distant period become the lot of the human race!” Utopia, according to Owen, was not confined to the printed page. Utopia could be realized.


4. The utopian’s other great hatred is for middle-class or “bourgeois” culture. Monogamy, monotheism, self-control, prudence, cleanliness, fortitude, self-interested labor—these are the utopian’s enemies. “Morality teaches man to be at war with himself,” Fourier wrote, “to resist his passions, to repress them, to believe that God was incapable of organizing our souls, our passions wisely.” What were called the bourgeois virtues had been designed to maintain unjust social relations and stop man from being true to himself. Thus, to recover one’s natural state, one “must undertake a vast operation of ‘desanctification,’ beginning with the so-called morality of the bourgeoisie,” wrote the twentieth-century utopian Daniel Guérin. “The moral prejudices inculcated by Christianity have an especially strong hold on the masses of the people.”
Anarchy in the U.S.A. | The Weekly Standard


With hope that you may now begin to understand....

The right wing Shaman has arrived.

 

[Avatar4321]

The right wing Shaman has arrived.

Shaman has started actually responding to posts with intelligent, fact based commentary in one color? When did this happen? Why am I the last to know these things?

Im going to take the fact that you didn't even bother to attempt a response that you can't.

BTW have you heard of or even just read a book called "Dreams from my Father" by one Barack Obama Jr.? It's a book about the dreams President Obama recieved from his father and his quest to understand and know him better.

Now, most people would logically ask "What were B. Obama Sr's dreams?" And we know the answer to that: He wanted a marxist society.

So are you suggesting that the dreams Barack Obama Jr was recieving from his father, was something else now?

His parents are openly Marxists, as well as his grandparents. His mentor was a hard core communist. He openly admits that sought out Marxist teachers and students while in college. He attended a Church that teaches a marxist bastardization of Christianity for 20 years. He has declared marxists appointed throughout his administration.

How much freakin evidence do we need before we can legitimately ask him whether he is a marxist?

 

[iamwhatiseem]

He is a liberal elitist leftist plutocrat.

 

[flacaltenn]

Don't know why it should be surprising that "the Pledge" was written by a socialist. They are after-all the ones who are enamored of placing the utmost confidence and allegiance to the govt. As opposed to say the Founders who weren't opposed to outright taking the govt to bits periodically to ASSURE that it didn't exceed it's bounds.

As for Obama -- it's beyond socialist. It's more a Progressive judgement on the communal aspects of our society. That he's SUPPOSED to be spanking bottoms and taking names and calling out factions to go to war with one another. Socialists are ORGANIZED and methodical. This is more Green Party type chaos and rejection of anything that currently forms the backbone of our social policy..

See for example the new Student Loan payment guidelines.. It is EXACTLY "from each according to their means -- to each according to their needs." THere is no thing anymore in student loans called default. You can't afford it -- don't have to pay. Too many kids -- don't have to pay. Pressed into the service of the almighty govt -- don't have to pay.. What exactly is that -- if not socialist or warped progressive???

 

[Avorysuds]

I do find it interesting that so many Republicans/conservatives on these boards claim Obama is a Marxist/socialist, yet Obama's policies are not much different than Bush and the Republicans that were in power not to long ago.

Bush spent lots on unconstitutional wars just like Obama has with Libya and so on. Bush did Medicare part D, Obama has Obamacare. Bush did 2x stimulus, Obama did 1. Bush started TARP (the bail outs) and Obama kept it going. Bush gave massive money to other countries, did new massive ne regulations, and the list goes on and on.

Finding areas where Bush and Republicans were different than Obama/Dems today is extremely hard to do.

My point in this post is not to blame Bush, it's to question our "options" of Democrat VS Republican... Both sides talk tough, Dems claimed the would control the purse strings if elected in under Bush, they would stop the mass spending Bush and Republicans did... When Dems won over the congress they rubber stamped everything Bush wanted but still *talked chit.* Today we have the same problems, Republicans still pass mass spending but *talk chit* directly after. Republicans opted to get us downgraded with Obama rather than push a balanced budget that was presented.

 

[bigrebnc1775]

Socialist.... Marxist....who cares?


All I now is he is NO Capitalist.



The Platters The Great Pretender - YouTube

No Friend of the America that gave him the opportunity he had growing up. in his teen age years and early adulthood years.

 

[asaratis]

Obama is a goddamned Marxist! That's a step or two beyond being a fuckin' socialist asshole.

I will bet my last dollar that when we finally get to see Obama's college thesis, it will be replete with Marxist ideals and praise for Karl.


America's fools do not have any idea the damage they have enabled by electing that asswipe community organizer to the office of POTUS.