In Socialism We Trust?

Obama Awards Highest Civilian Honor to Democratic Socialists of America Chair

It sickens me to even think an organization such as this even exists on US soil, but it does.  How you can live in the USA and call yourself a Democratic Socialist is beyond me. If you want socialism, move to Cuba or North Korea…. We all know how great the quality of life is there. Pffft.

What makes me even angrier than the existence of the DSA is the fact that President Obama awarded the Medal of Freedom, highest civilian honor, to the Democratic Socialists of America honorary Chair, Dolores Huerta: A woman who speaks fondly of Hugo Chavez’s authoritarian regime in Venezuela. Additionally, Huerta persuades illegal immigrants to join with unions in protesting against their employers. In regards to Huerta’s praising Hugo Chavez, she remarks: “Why can’t we do that here in the United States?”  My solution? Put her on a plane and send her to Cuba. 

Even more mind boggling is the fact that this month, Wade Hicks, Jr., an America-loving man who is an outspoken critic of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), was put on a no-fly list and labeled a possible terrorist threat. Why? Because he believes in American liberties and is an outspoken proponent of them! A protector of American sovereignty is put on a no-fly list but a socialist/communist loving woman who would dream of bringing socialism to the US receives the highest civilian honor awarded by the president.

Is Obama a Socialist?

Perhaps not in the purist sense, as laid out by Karl Marx, however there are many remarkable similarities between Obama’s ramblings and those of European Socialists.  Forbes contributing writer, Paul Gregory, shows us in his article, French Socialists Test Drive Obama Platform, that both Obama and French Socialist, Francois Hollande (French presidential candidate), have nearly facsimile leftist proposals. In viewing their platforms side-by-side, one can hardly detect the differences.
1) Sacrificing debt reduction in favor of stimulus to promote economic recovery.

2) Dealing with deficits through tax increases rather than spending cuts. Both believe the “rich” are under-taxed. Hollande’s tax increases on the rich are higher than Obama’s. Hollande wants a 75 percent rate on those earning over 1 million Euros (about $1.3 million) and 45 percent on those earning over 150,000 Euros ($200,000). Notably, both define the “rich” at similar levels of income ($200,000 -$250,000). Obama might like to “soak the rich” more but knows that Hollande-like rates cannot fly politically in the United States.

3) Eliminating lower tax rates on investment income like capital gains and dividends. Both view lower tax rates for investment and risk taking, not as pro-growth measures, but as allowing the rich to escape paying their “fair share.”

4) Hiring more public workers. Hollande calls for hiring 60,000 more educators, one thousand more police every year, and creating 150,000 state-aided jobs. Obama’s campaign warns against cuts in public service jobs, forced by Republican cutting-to-the-bone  budgets.

5) Protecting the welfare state. Hollande proposes to keep the French retirement age at sixty and otherwise make no changes in France’s generous entitlement programs. Obama opposes Republican proposals to rationalize Medicare by turning it into insurance grants. Both fail to explain how they plan to pay for current entitlements other than to suggest taxing the rich.

6) Creating a public infrastructure bank to finance new infrastructure projects from state funds. They both would like to use infrastructure spending as a politically-saleable stimulus program, irrespective of the budget deficits it causes.

7) Fighting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender, or race. In France’s case, the race to be protected is Muslim minorities, who are French citizens or legal residents. In the US,  it is Hispanics, who have entered the country illegally.

8)  Cutting taxes on small businesses and provide preferences for businesses that return jobs to the home country. For both, small businesses are good, big businesses are bad.

9) Reducing the use of out-of-favor sources of energy. In France it is nuclear energy; in the US it is coal or, more broadly, carbon-based energy.

10) Campaigning against big finance. In the U.S., it is Wall Street. In France, it is big banks.
11) Cutting executive pay of the greedy captains of industry and finance. Hollande proposes to limit executive pay to twenty times the average wage, which would equal about $400,000 per year. Hollande’s figure is close to the $500,000 executive pay cap that Obama proposed for companies receiving federal assistance.

 

Obama A New Party Member?

Now, as far as I can tell, this has only been evidenced by a few who were able to gain access to records, and I can not attest to the validity of the below images although they seem legit, but Obama was purportedly a member of the New Party. Stanley Kurtz, National Review writer, writes:

Recently obtained evidence from the updated records of Illinois ACORN at the Wisconsin Historical Society now definitively establishes that Obama was a member of the New Party. He also signed a “contract” promising to publicly support and associate himself with the New Party while in office.

Minutes of the meeting on January 11, 1996, of the New Party’s Chicago chapter read as follows:

Barack Obama, candidate for State Senate in the 13th Legislative District, gave a statement to the membership and answered questions. He signed the New Party “Candidate Contract” and requested an endorsement from the New Party. He also joined the New Party.

Consistent with this, a roster of the Chicago chapter of the New Party from early 1997 lists Obama as a member, with January 11, 1996, indicated as the date he joined.

Shoot me now! “Give me liberty or give me death.”