Dr.Who
Well-Known Member
Nah... He's not... Just all his friends, associates, political allies and policies are socialist.
I think you need to read some Karl Marx... all the Democrat politicians seem to have read his work and given it their rubber stamp of approval.
Anti-Capitalism
Class Warfare
Redistribution of Wealth
Big Government Policies
Any of that sound familiar?
I suspect that Bunz is right that Obama is no classical socialist. But there are many kinds of socialists. he appears to be a "social democrat." for some of you out there, no, I didn't just put two words together to make that up. A social democrat believes many of the same things as a Marxist but does not advocate the violent overthrow of the capitalists. Instead he wishes to replace capitalism through electoral means.
According to this (and other sources) the continuum starts on the far left with communists/classical socialist, then democratic socialists, then social democrats, liberals, moderates, etc.
Here is a much sanitized and sugar coated description of social democrats:
In general, contemporary social democrats support:
* A mixed economy consisting mainly of private enterprise, but with government owned or subsidized programs of education, healthcare, child care and related services for all citizens.
* Government bodies that regulate private enterprise in the interests of workers, consumers and fair competition.
* Advocacy of fair trade over free trade.
* An extensive system of social security (although usually not to the extent advocated by democratic socialists or other socialist groups), with the stated goal of counteracting the effects of poverty and insuring the citizens against loss of income following illness, unemployment or retirement.
* Moderate to high levels of taxation (through a value-added and/or progressive taxation system) to fund government expenditure.
Social democrats also tend to support:
* Environmental protection laws (although not always to the extent advocated by Greens), such as combating global warming and increasing alternative energy funding.
* Support for immigration and multiculturalism.
* A secular and progressive social policy, although this varies markedly in degree.
* A foreign policy supporting the promotion of democracy, the protection of human rights and where possible, effective multilateralism.
* As well as human rights, social democrats also support social rights, civil rights and civil liberties.
Here are some problems with SD:
* The regulations placed on the market by social democracy tend to limit economic efficiency and growth, and impede the creation of wealth that is needed to alleviate global poverty.
* Social democracy places unacceptable constraints on individual rights in order to reach its societal goals.
* Social democratic programs sometimes entail large government outlays, which can result in sizeable budget deficits.
* State provision of education, health care, childcare and other services limits individual choice (and requires users to pay twice if they opt to use privately-run services).
Many of the policies espoused by social democrats in the first half of the 20th century have since been put into practice by social democratic governments throughout the industrialized world. Industries have been nationalised, public spending has seen a large long-term rise, and the role of the state in providing free-to-user or subsidized health care and education has increased greatly.
Since the 1980s, there has been a perception that social democracy has been on the retreat in the Western world, particularly in English-speaking countries, where social democratic values are arguably not as firmly rooted in local law and culture as elsewhere. The adoption of Third Way ideology by many social democrats has proved divisive within the broader social democratic community. In Britain, for example, most of the nationalized industries were sold off in the 1980s and 1990s by Margaret Thatcher.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_democrats
But that is all assuming that I have pegged him correctly. Since he hides his intentions so well it could be that he is much farther left and I am simply not aware of how far left. As pointed out many of his associates are marxists, trotskyites (sp?), anarchists, mouists (sp?), etc.
