Damn
Commie Pinkos!
What
is it with the American fetish for painting opponents red by calling them
Socialist, Communist, etc.? It would be hilarious, if it weren't such a bad
joke. Obama is a Socialist? Seriously?
I
don't know why I'm amazed that this has gained so much traction in what passes
for political discourse, but then I suppose I have to consider the source.
Americans, by and large, are greatly ignorant of their own history. Actually,
that unfairly gives them too much credit because (given polling results) most
Americans show precious little capacity for independent thought, never mind
taking the time to do any research beyond the top three Google results. Very
few have examined what was called the Cold War, its origins, the dynamics of
domestic and foreign policies, or the use of it to manipulate public opinion
and manufacture consent - not just during what is called the McCarthy era, but
today as well - more than 60 years later. Despite facts, many honestly believe
that Reagan ended the Cold War.
According
to Wikipedia, Socialism is defined as follows: Socialism is an economic system
characterized by social ownership and/or control of the means of production and
cooperative management of the economy, and a political philosophy advocating
such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a
combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises, common ownership,
direct public ownership or autonomous state enterprises.
That
is a fairly concise explanation that should be easy to understand. Now let's
apply it to what Obama has actually done while in office. The following are
just some examples of Obama 'accomplishments' during his first term (borrowed
from David Swanson’s review of Hopeless:
Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion, by Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua
Frank) As Swanson notes, "the book is not organized by topic; it's a
random, if chronological, ride through a catalog of catastrophes. But it's united by the theme of horrendously
bad government in the age of Obama. It
ignores the mythology and treats Obama based on his actual performance." I’ve
sorted these items by category.
Got
that, kids? Performance counts, myth does not. So let's begin, shall we? Here’s
a list of what Obama has done contrasted with what the Socialist Party
advocates. Note: the Socialist Party are real Socialists! Before we begin, does anyone care to guess how many times Obama
parallels the Socialist platform? …. I didn’t think so.
Environment - Energy
·
Obama facilitated the kind of drilling that created the BP oil gusher in the
Gulf of Mexico, and then sought to cover up the extent of the damage.
·
Obama has championed nuclear power.
·
Obama has made anti-environmentalist corporate tools the heads of the
Departments of the
·
Obama has gone around Congress and the courts to approve of Monsanto's GMOs.
Socialists:
· Call
for public ownership and democratic control of all our natural resources in
order to conserve resources, preserve our wilderness areas, and restore
environmental quality.
· Demand
that the U.S. must immediately return to participation in international
agreements, such as the Kyoto Protocol, limiting carbon emissions, and accept a
major role in worldwide efforts to control global warming.
·
Call for placing full financial responsibility on private
companies for prevention and clean up of their own toxic wastes and for full
compensation of workers and residents adversely affected by environmental
hazards.
· Oppose
any new nuclear power projects and call for the rapid phasing out of all
nuclear power plants, and a ban on the export of nuclear technology.
War - Foreign Policy
·
Obama has taken massive funding from war profiteers and worked in their
interest, empowering a collection of war hawks from the George W. Bush and Bill
Clinton eras, and including no opponent of militarism in any high office.
·
Obama abandoned the people of Gaza to their fate beneath Israeli bombs.
·
Obama has served Israel at the expense of human rights, peace, and democracy.
·
Obama delayed de-escalation in Iraq and tried every way he could to avoid
complete withdrawal.
·
Obama's administration facilitated and accepted a military coup in Honduras.
·
Obama tripled the size of the war on Afghanistan.
·
Obama has pushed U.S. weapons sales on foreign nations.
·
Obama has punished Iranians with sanctions while threatening war.
·
Obama has backed murderers in Colombia and put U.S. troops into that country in
the interests of big oil.
·Obama
has dramatically escalated drone killings, developing a new type of war.
·
Obama has expanded the weaponization and the use of nuclear power in space.
·Obama
has continued pointless killing in Afghanistan on the basis of false pretenses.
Socialists:
· Call
for the closing of all U.S. military facilities at home and abroad that train
foreign military and paramilitary personnel.
· Call
for the United States to immediately and unconditionally withdraw its forces
from Iraq and Afghanistan.
· Call
for an end to the U.S. occupation of the province of Guantanamo, Cuba.
·
Call for an end to the Israeli occupation of the West
Bank-East Jerusalem and Gaza, and an end to all U.S. aid to Israel, as a
precondition for peace.
·
Stand
for unconditional disarmament by the United States.
·
Call
for an immediate 50% cut in the military budget, followed by additional cuts,
with the aim of rapidly reducing the military budget to less than 10% of its
current level, with the "peace dividend" directed to essential social
services and to the cost of cleaning up contaminated military sites.
Civil Liberties
·
Obama has expanded secrecy, sought retribution against whistleblowers, expanded
warrentless spying, protected confessed torturers, revived military
commissions, and expanded the military.
·
Obama has claimed the power to torture and to "rendition" prisoners
and kidnap victims to other countries that torture.
·
Obama has tortured Bradley Manning.
·
Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012. Section
1021 of that law permits the indefinite military detention of American citizens
on a mere suspicion of a connection, however remote or unintended, with a
terrorist group. It was the death blow
to a Constitution that was already on life support.
Socialists:
·
Condemn the so-called War on Terrorism and call for the
immediate repeal of the U.S.A.P.A.T.R.I.O.T Acts and the Anti-Terrorism and
Effective Death Penalty Act.
·
Call for the elimination of the Dept.of Homeland Security
and the sweeping police powers accorded to it.
·
Demand the exclusion of the military from domestic law
enforcement.
·
Call for the abolition of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation.
·
Oppose so-called anti-terrorist measures and criminal code
reforms that restrict legitimate dissent.
·
Oppose all forms of censorship both legislative and
institutional
Economy
·
Obama has taken massive funding from Wall Street, appointed Wall Street
executives to top positions, and followed their lead, to the benefit of
banksters and the detriment of the rest of us.
·
Obama bailed out AIG, but not you or me.
·
Obama has kept tax breaks for billionaires in place, persuading his followers
to continue calling them "the Bush Tax Cuts."
·
Obama has pushed deregulation as a solution to the problems caused by
deregulation.
·
Obama, despite promises the contrary, has put lobbyists in positions of power
in his administration. Senator Obama's
corporatist vote for the Class Action Fairness Act was in line with the rest of
his performance as senator and later president.
Socialists:
·
Demand the immediate withdrawal of the United States from
the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Central American Free
Trade Agreement (CAFTA), and oppose the creation of a widened Free Trade Area
of the Americas (FTAA).
·
Call for a minimum wage of $15 per hour, indexed to the cost
of living.
·
Call for a full employment policy. We support the provision
of a livable guaranteed annual income.
·
Call for all financial and insurance institutions to be
socially owned and operated by a democratically-controlled national banking
authority, which should include credit unions, mutual insurance cooperatives,
and cooperative state banks. In the meantime, we call for re-regulation
of the banking and insurance industries.
·
Call for a steeply graduated income tax and a steeply
graduated estate tax, and a maximum income of no more than ten times the
minimum. We oppose regressive taxes such as payroll tax, sales tax, and
property taxes.
·
Call for the restoration of the capital gains tax and luxury
tax on a progressive, graduated scale.
·
Oppose the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and
the World Trade Organization as instruments of capitalist oppression throughout
the world.
·
Call for a National Pension Authority to hold the assets of
private pension funds, and a levy against corporate assets for any pension fund
deficits.
·
Call for increased and expanded welfare assistance and
increased and expanded unemployment compensation at 100% of a worker's previous
income or the minimum wage, whichever is higher, for the full period of
unemployment or re-training, whichever is longer.
·
Support a program of massive federal investment in both
urban and rural areas for infrastructure reconstruction and economic
development.
Support tax benefits for renters
equal to those for homeowners.
Call for the elimination of
subsidies and tax breaks that benefit corporations and all other forms of
corporate welfare.
·
Oppose the court-created precedent of “corporate personhood”
that illegitimately gives corporations rights that were intended for human
beings.
Health Care
This
is the real bug-a-boo that gets the rightwing fanatics frothing at the mouth
with panicked screams of “Socialist, Socialist, Socialist!”
·
Obama championed corporate health coverage (a.k.a., Obamacare) over Medicare
for All.
What
this means is that you, the taxpayer and worker, are obligated to purchase
health insurance. This money goes to insurance corporations. It does not lower
your care costs, nor does it provide care (a very important distinction).
Employers may face penalties if they hire a subsidized (i.e., poor) worker and
do not offer a health insurance plan. In reality, costs are paid by workers in
the form of lower salaries/wages, and the consumer in the form of higher
prices. Meanwhile, the insurance industry gets a windfall. The only thing that
comes close to being Socialist in nature, is that the Obama plan increases
Medicare coverage for the poorest Americans.
Socialists:
·
Stand for a socialized health care system based on universal
coverage, salaried doctors and health care workers, and revenues derived from a
steeply graduated income tax.
·
Demand that critical support is given to the demand for the
immediate abolition of all private health insurance companies through the
creation of a single-payer health system. We see single-payer as an important
step in the direction of a fully socialized national health program with full
standard and alternative medical, dental, vision, and mental health coverage
for all. This system would be publicly funded through progressive taxation and
controlled by democratically elected assemblies of health care workers and
patients. The National Health Program should improve, and replace, Medicare and
Medicaid.
·
Call for a health care system that emphasizes preventive
care, respects patients' privacy, gives special attention to the needs of the
physically and mentally disabled, and conducts treatment and research
unimpaired by sexism, racism, or homophobia.
It
shouldn’t be too difficult for anyone to reach the conclusion that Obama is no Socialist.
Far from it, he’s done little to suggest that he isn’t a dyed-in-the-wool
Capitalist. Economically speaking, how could anyone call a champion of Wall
Street and the banking industry a Socialist? With a straight face, that is.
War
(sarcastically known as “defense”) - Fuggedaboutit! Obama’s foreign policy is
more hawkish than Bush, and indeed the US is engaged in more wars (Afghanistan,
Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, as well as pushing the limits of reason against
Iran). This does not include US military
operations in Africa or Latin America, of which there are many. Presidential
assassination lists, drones, etc.
Civil
Liberties - Are you kidding me? The NDAA is totalitarian! It gives the US
military the power to arrest anyone, a citizen of any country (including
American), anywhere in the world and detain them indefinitely - INDEFINITELY -
without that person being allowed access to the charges or evidence against
them. You could, theoretically, post a
blog piece criticizing the US government and be arrested. No joke.
So
what’s the result of this? It probably won’t convince a single red-baiter,
because frankly I don’t think they have the intellectual wherewithal to understand
the glaring contradictions between the reactionary rhetoric they feed upon, and
reality. It also happens to be more politically-correct to hate a Socialist,
than to hate someone based on their skin color. Ultimately, ignorance reigns
supreme.
So why America, do you think Obama is a Socialist? Because you're a dumbass!
As the song goes, "You ain't done nothing, if you ain't been called a Red!" The problem is, what Obama has done is what Socialists, and all people with a conscience, oppose.