THURSDAY 5 MARCH 2009

Who You Calling Socialist?
Wednesday 04 March 2009

by: Harold Meyerson | Visit article original @ The Washington Post


Conservatives are currently attacking President Barack Obama by calling him a socialist.
"We are all socialists now," proclaims Newsweek. We are creating "socialist republics" in the United States, says Mike Huckabee, adding, on reflection, that "Lenin and Stalin would love this stuff." We are witnessing the Obama-era phenomenon of "European socialism transplanted to Washington," says Newt Gingrich.

Well! Even as we all turn red, I've still encountered just two avowed democratic socialists in my daily rounds through the nation's capital: Vermont's Sen. Bernie Sanders . . . and the guy I see in the mirror when I shave. Bernie is quite capable of speaking for himself, so what follows is a report on the state of actual existing socialism from the other half of the D.C. Senators and Columnists Soviet.

First, as we survey the political landscape, what's striking is the absence of advocates of socialism, at least as the term was understood by those who carried that banner during the capitalist crisis of the 1930s. Then, socialists and communists both spoke of nationalizing all major industries and abolishing private markets and the wage system. Today, it's impossible to find a left-leaning party anywhere that has such demands or entertains such fantasies. (Not even Hugo Chávez - more an authoritarian populist than any kind of socialist - says such things.)

Within the confines of socialist history, this means that the perspective of Eduard Bernstein - the fin de siecle German socialist who argued that the immediate struggle to humanize capitalism through the instruments of democratic government was everything, and that the goal of supplanting capitalism altogether was meaningless - has definitively prevailed. Within the confines of American history, this means that when New York's garment unions left the Socialist Party to endorse Franklin Roosevelt in 1936, they were charting the paradigmatic course for American socialists: into the Democratic Party to support not the abolition of capitalism but its regulation and democratization, and the creation of some areas of public life where the market does not rule.

But in the United States, conservatives have never bashed socialism because its specter was actually stalking America. Rather, they've wielded the cudgel against such progressive reforms as free universal education, the minimum wage or tighter financial regulations. Their signal success is to have kept the United States free from the taint of universal health care. The result: We have the world's highest health-care costs, borne by businesses and employees that cannot afford them; nearly 50 million Americans have no coverage; infant mortality rates are higher than those in 41 nations - but at least (phew!) we don't have socialized medicine.

Give conservatives credit for their consistency: They attacked Roosevelt as a socialist as they are now attacking Obama, when in fact Obama, like Roosevelt before him, is engaged not in creating socialism but in rebooting a crashed capitalist system. The spending in Obama's stimulus plan isn't a socialist takeover. It's the only way to inject money into a system in which private-sector investment, consumption and exports - the other three possible engines of growth - are locked down. Investing more tax dollars in education and research and development is a way to use public funds to create a more competitive private sector. Keeping our banks from speculating madly with our money is a way to keep banking alive.

If Obama realizes his agenda, what emerges will be a more social, sustainable, competitive capitalism. His more intellectually honest and sentient conservative critics don't accuse him of Leninism but of making our form of capitalism more like Europe's. In fact, over the past quarter-century, Europe's capitalism became less regulated and more like ours, one reason Europe is tanking along with everyone else.

Take it from a democratic socialist: Laissez-faire American capitalism is about to be supplanted not by socialism but by a more regulated, viable capitalism. And the reason isn't that the woods are full of secret socialists who are only now outing themselves.

Judging by the failures of the great Wall Street investment houses and the worldwide crisis of commercial banks; the collapse of East Asian, German and American exports; the death rattle of the U.S. auto industry; the plunge of stock markets everywhere; the sickening rise in global joblessness; and the growing shakiness of governments in fledgling democracies that opened themselves to the world market - judging by all these, a more social capitalism is on the horizon because the deregulated capitalism of the past 30 years has blown itself up, taking much of the known world with it.

So, for conservatives searching for the culprits behind this transformation of capitalism: Despite our best efforts, it wasn't Bernie and it wasn't me. It was your own damn system.
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http://www.truthout.org/030409R


I thought this was an interesting article, sorry for the cut paste here but it is worth reading.

It just verifies my point that I have made all along about the people who have bought the propaganda from the right about the "socializing and communizing" of America.

It ain't happening folks. Those of you who have bought into this have been bamboozled.

1 opinion of 300,000,000 people.

if you guys read my post, you know what happens when you inject more money into the system. you devalue the dollar.

No.
There's actually about a half-dozen of you!

What a load of..., on every point that this article makes.

We do not have a capitalism in US, therefore this isn't a capitalist crisis, but a socialist one, and it is well predicted and consistently developing.

Further in early 1900, it wasn't a capitalist system either, therefore, how can it be called a crisis of capitalism?

Really, was there ever a crisis of capitalism in Soviet Union? No. Because they had a socialist system, and therefore any crisis they had or could possibly have would have been properly termed a socialist crisis.

Bailouts are capitalist measure? In capitalism, government does not give money to anybody, and that includes not only poor, but banks and corporations as well. Everyone carries the cost of their own foolishness, yes, banks too.

Investing in education? - There is no such thing in capitalism. The same goes for the healthcare, - you pay for your own costs in capitalism.

We do have a socialized medicine today. The contention that we do not is atrocious. Simple test, anyone? Try to be a doctor and refuse care to a poor emergency visitor. The costs of healthcare are high, precisely because of socialized medicine. Two levels: emergency and the coverage through employment.

When you pay your own money for helthcare, you start to care for prices. And when we care for the prices, they don't go up.

Obama is restarting a capitalist system? Please.

Injection of money? Is that a capitalist method? Huh? Besides, there are no money injected, in case you didn't know, we don't have money since 1933. Those paper notes, they are credit, or debt, in common terms, not money.

Engines of growth are consumption, export and private investment? The other three? Which was the first one?

Consumption is an engine only in a socialist system, never in a capitalist one.

Private investment is "locked down" by the government, because it is none else but the government, that "manages" the interest rate, and now had inverted it to a negative territory. In capitalist system, the interest rates are set by the free markets. To invest in an environment of a negative rates, is a foolish proposition, done only by the ignorant. Why should we expect any investment while the rates are negative?

Let me break it down to you. To invest at a negative rate is the same as to plant 10 seeds, knowing that they will only give you one plant with 8 seeds on it. Why bother?

What happened to a production being an engine?



So, again, what a load of socialist propaganda, for those who don't know what is what in real life.

exactly. The stimulus plan is injecting money that didn't exist before. There is no reserve in the federal reserve.

increasing the money supply = inflation. We're now in $2,000,000,000,000 for all of this and that money is not coming from reserves. that means get ready from some wicked devaluation.

But supposedly, this is capitalism? This is a socialism, "in your face" kind!

I guess the proper way to explain it is that while it's not full-on socialism, it still is socialism because it has more attributes of socialism than the other options.

Just like how along the political spectrum, liberal, moderate, and conservative do not refer to 3 specific sets of beliefs but rather describe the alignment of the majority of the beliefs held by that person where no two (figuratively) are the same.

Otherwise, if you want to play the 100% game, Obama is now the first mixed-race president and he's not black.

also, every single company that has accepted any of this bailout now has to forfeit a certain part of their ownership to the government, obabababmadamalama's is going to do the same thing. no capitalism going on that's for sure, maybe these people are forgetting how russians had to line up at the bread lines to get their weekly rations of bread milk and cheese.

Actually. I'm kinda' partial to Gubament Cheese. That danged bulgar. boil it for days and all it did was get harder.

“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.” – Norman Thomas, U.S. Socialist Party presidential candidate 1940, 1944, and 1948.

Nine years into the twenty-first century, Mr. Thomas’ prediction has come to fruition; the presidential elections of 2008 have validated his faith in “liberalism” and its Trojan horse delivery of Socialism. After decades of slow yet persistent desensitization in our schools, in our media, and in government policy, Americans have become complacent to the ramifications of Socialism upon our prosperity, our individual freedoms, and our national identity.

We have been so concerned with external threats that we have forgotten to watch our back door. While we defeated Communism in much of the rest of the world, it quietly crept into our schools and institutions, disguised as a more palatable communitarian “philosophy.” It has now taken America. It did so without violence, by subterfuge and stealth, but make no mistake, President-elect Barrack Obama is motivated by the same controlling impulses that inspire Chavez and Noriega. He is moved by the same totalitarian tendency that animates all utopian ideologues.

“When you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody,” Barack Obama explained to Joe Wurzelbacher, popularly known as Joe, the Plumber. The hard lessons of history have taught us otherwise; the application of utopian ideals by those who would govern using them has always led to disaster and ruin. Socialism bleeds the vitality from a nation. It dilutes the national will and lulls the citizenry into a fatal complacency that makes it ill-suited to survival as social programs progressively consume larger and larger portions of the national budget for continually decreasing returns. Its corrupting influence on cultural and national strength is clear in the continuing struggle to rebuild the countries of the former Warsaw Pact. Its negative effect is becoming increasingly evident in those European nations that now experiment with it, with ever-increasing taxes, declining populations, and decreasing productivity.“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.” – Norman Thomas, U.S. Socialist Party presidential candidate 1940, 1944, and 1948.

Nine years into the twenty-first century, Mr. Thomas’ prediction has come to fruition; the presidential elections of 2008 have validated his faith in “liberalism” and its Trojan horse delivery of Socialism. After decades of slow yet persistent desensitization in our schools, in our media, and in government policy, Americans have become complacent to the ramifications of Socialism upon our prosperity, our individual freedoms, and our national identity.

We have been so concerned with external threats that we have forgotten to watch our back door. While we defeated Communism in much of the rest of the world, it quietly crept into our schools and institutions, disguised as a more palatable communitarian “philosophy.” It has now taken America. It did so without violence, by subterfuge and stealth, but make no mistake, President-elect Barrack Obama is motivated by the same controlling impulses that inspire Chavez and Noriega. He is moved by the same totalitarian tendency that animates all utopian ideologues.

“When you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody,” Barack Obama explained to Joe Wurzelbacher, popularly known as Joe, the Plumber. The hard lessons of history have taught us otherwise; the application of utopian ideals by those who would govern using them has always led to disaster and ruin. Socialism bleeds the vitality from a nation. It dilutes the national will and lulls the citizenry into a fatal complacency that makes it ill-suited to survival as social programs progressively consume larger and larger portions of the national budget for continually decreasing returns. Its corrupting influence on cultural and national strength is clear in the continuing struggle to rebuild the countries of the former Warsaw Pact. Its negative effect is becoming increasingly evident in those European nations that now experiment with it, with ever-increasing taxes, declining populations, and decreasing productivity.

and as each monstor bank that agree's to turn a blind eye to the corruption, more souls are bought off, and another small mom and pop bank is boarded up each day......

and as each government division is doled out millions to create new "government jobs for the needy", the devouring machine entice's the peoples the "self perpetuating machine" is the only salvation from starvation and loss......

and as the lotto create trillions and trillions in tax revenues, that line the coffers of the machine heads, what was once called the "servant of the people", each day convince another school teacher with a family that to work around the clock to survive is just and good and noble......

and as the machine spew forth the entitlements wished and craved and begged for by the people, disillusioned souls are fed the food of tyranny that enslave even the children in cradles, offerd up to the god's of money and power......

and the glamour and wealth diguised bring a once soverign peoples to it' kness's in tears, as the machine rumble's forth spewing the blood of the innocent and ignorant.......

and each day the great hollow void grow larger, and the earth swell with the atrocities thought buried forever within it's belly.......

and the forever tellings broadcast forth of the bad and terror that roamed the streets, wishing and wanting to harm the good and faithful, cause the giant fist to open it's greedy sweaty hands, to accept into it's palms the slaves, as they run into it seeking shelter and saftey......

and as the airwaves pumped out the illusions as dreams of happiness, the clamber of running feet was deafening, and drowned out the cry's of the children and dying and poor, as the great giant fist patted and rubbed the heads that love to be praised, and stroked the minds of those that long to be called as good and faithful citizen's......

and as the unwitting souls tried to make the leap to join the elite ranks of the "succsessful", they were fed notions of unsanity pumped out each day, the inconsistencies of the words and directive's as tall towers unto the skies, and true reality was hidden from sight, from anything that wished most for itself, and from all that wished to be validated from the outside frequencies......

and at the top of the tiers and tower's, where the walking dead roamed to and fro, the stench of self worship and corrupted power filled the skies with black smoke, and as each poor beggar soul that stepped cloce to the room of power was engulfed in flames, and the fire's of injustice burned hot, and the souls that sought to find gain for self fell into the ashes, as each one learned there is was no turning back, and no exit from within the inner circle, that was longed for day and night by the ruthless minds......

and as the consequence and risk of exposure of the truth grew larger each day, the mountain became high to the skies, and far too great to ever be told except for the sake of blood, for the atrocities perpetuated in the name of right and good and god, stained the very soil of the feet the brave and real once walked upon, that fought for valor and love of other's loved......

and the voice of the heart that beckoned to those who left it behind, to awaken to courage and passion, was quelled and quieted with the realization's of reality, that the cost be not only self, but one's own family and children......

and the silence and obedience was bought with new offering's of a show, and as promotion's unto power, or the voice's faded away into the bowels of the unsane rhetoric, and disappeared from sight into the abyss of the lost, into the sea of the dead prophet's of truth, that died not for only a few, but for all and many and many, seeing with sight ahead how all would die as slaves, even while praising it's slave master's promising words of safety and passage......

and even as the curses of the followers and faithful ring in the ears of the dying, another honest heart is disolved with the acids of greed that eat away at the truth......

and the souls that lament in silence cry forth in the quiet places, with the seeing it's own shall come to destruction if the tale be told, as who and what voice can stand and say take my loved one's and imprison them, seeing it was but self's own greed that caused the blindness, and caused the pitiful demise of it's own, or the demise of many and many more, and even so, as a thief in the night the great dragon came to steal helpless crying babies with no knowings from the cradle's of comfort.......

and the trail of destruction of the machine was covered with blood, and the cost of salvation and redemption came to be mortal life, and the ranks of the neutered were added to each day, and marched on as drones to the beat of the manipulated and contorted drummer......

and as the big iron fist reached out it's hand, to aquire it's ownership of the hearts and souls of human beings, the insatiable thirst for money and power grew expidentially, and the level of respect and servitude demanded from the lessor's as common peoples grew with each passing day, and the death grip that clutched anything that dare disent, caused the roar of the same machines that rumbled in the ears of past faiutful's to grow louder each second, and as the meek follower's convinced of self guilt before god, stood silent in fear, the silence for the sake of self that in day's past perpetuated unquestionable power gave rise to the destructions of many, powered with the fuel of self preservation, and the despise of proof and scrutiny was alive, and millions of insuborinates were churned forth thru the grist mill, spewing bone and blood and hearts into the soils of the earth......

and the peoples that ate of the expert defintions of evil put forth by the dragon, stood by while it's neighbor's were fed into machines of torture and violence, and hate fed the flames of passion of killings, while the people's despised by the machine sang praises to the machine......

and the cowards that thirsted for saftey were engulfed in a tight fist, even suppressed unto the thoughts and speech of the mouths, and as the king of false promises defined morals and normal code's even unto death, the lion roared forth, to lap up the brains of the oppressor's, even being cursed by the gullible and convinced subjects that hollored for their inferior brother's and sister's to be put to death, and the spieces that once bought vanity and flattery was enlightened, and the inner chambers that has devised devices of control and control were overcome, and the exterminations of the lessor's, purtorted as the filth that inhabited the planet, came and lifted up the once self professed holy diver's, that had given up their loved one's for self merit and saftey, and the machine gound to a halt as the earth come to a stop, and as the skies reigened in new days of peace and love, the prise and glory of the bold and courageous that served the people's was fulfilled, and handed back in recompense.

You heard it from the horses mouth and you stil do not believe? So sad that they have you so brainwashed to believe the garbage they feed you that when presented with the opinion from the mouth of those you accuse all to be, you cannot see.

I think it is a little more maybe 9, there are some silent fury types out there in cyber space too. lol

David, do you actually speak the way you write? I have always wondered

Indeed I was reading something the other day, saying that now these companies and banks who bowed for the bailout, now they got government agents sitting in their meetings, recording things and even advise and criticize the budge and plans , whatever.

Basically, every bailout, the government plants more and more of their agents, since they are "shareholders" now. Imagine if you'd sit at a dinner table and some man in black would be joining and tell you what to shop tomorrow from the supermarket and check your wallet daily.

Thought it worth repeating.

One day, I think I counted 7!

And they must not work. Seeing how much they post and that they post at all hours of the day.

Not an accurate comparison. Imagine the guy who now owns your home sitting in to dinner with you because the house has been torn down recently and he needs to see why his house is being torn up. The government has invested alot of money into these banks. Under Bush they just handed them the money and like unruly children they did not act responsively with the money so now like unruly children they will have to be monitered until things get right.

I have already heard from several politicians and Obama himself that they do not want to governmentalize the banking system at any level. This is a temporary thing and it will end once they are doing what they are suppose to be with the tax payers money.

each soul drag forth from the heart of each it's own due recompense.

Can't you hear those other two gnashing their teeth every time you post??? I can

I have wondered that myself on the job thing.