When I read Tracy Warner’s article in the Sunday, March 8, issue of The Journal Gazette, headlined “Obama’s policies are not socialist,” I felt compelled to respond. He begins with a quote about socialism that sounds quite benign.
Let me add another one:
Norman Mattoon Thomas (1884-1968) was a leading American socialist, pacifist and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.As a candidate for president, Thomas said, in a 1944 speech: “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.” He added that “I no longer need to run as a presidential candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democratic Party has adopted our platform.”
With lightning speed, Obama’s policies have lurched so far to the left that even Democrats are concerned. The statement that Obama is merely continuing the bailouts Bush made is non-productive and childish. (Bush started it!)
But Warner’s statement that many weren’t critical of Bush’s massive government bailouts is untrue. Last fall, “zillions” of calls lit up congressional phone lines, begging Congress not to bail out the banking and loan industries. Because Obama voted FOR the bailouts, he most certainly would have supported them if he were president.
“No conservative critics called it ‘socialism,’” Warner says, “when Congress decided money made on investments should be worth more than money workers earn through the sweat of their brows, slashing tax rates for capital gains below the rates on wages — and redistributing wealth through tax policy that favored the rich.’”
More than half of all American households are involved, one way or another, in the stock market. The money put in the stock market was earned by regular folks “through the sweat of their brows.” This money has already been taxed and even the “gains” made shouldn’t be taxed at exorbitant rates again. Most importantly, this money is the ONLY retirement savings for those working stiffs who have NO pension plans.
This is NOT a tax policy that favors only the rich; it favors all Americans who simply want a fund for their future retirement without the government raping it on a regular basis as the government does the Social Security fund.
Warner says Republican capitalists at Citibank, AIG, etc., did not decry the bailouts as “socialism.” When we look at who gave what to political campaigns, these are Democrats in control of these banks and institutions. Many of them are good friends of Obama.
Franklin Raines walked away with millions of dollars when he left Fannie Mae while rank-and-file Americans lost jobs and wages. Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) took a sweetheart loan from Countrywide while the rank-and-file lost their homes. And General Electric’s chief Jeffrey Immelt, a Democrat on Obama’s economic advisory team, has lost more money for GE than any other corporation in history, while the rank-and-file are out on the streets.
“This is most definitely not socialism,” Warner says, but it most definitely is. This is the treachery of socialism, in which, as Warner says, “workers would see benefits equal to those of owners.” The truth is, socialism sets up two tiers — those in power who get by with anything and the rest of us poor schmucks.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner HEADS the IRS and cheated on his tax returns. Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) WRITES the tax codes and hasn’t paid taxes on offshore properties for years. Several in the Obama administration were either caught not paying taxes or pulled out because of tax problems. Does anyone really believe these folks abide by the same rules that they impose on the rest of us?
If a person works hard, saves money and plays by the rules, should he or she be forced to pay a large portion of their money to those who didn’t? Obama’s stimulus bill dismantles President Clinton’s workfare program. This new plan rewards higher welfare enrollment, not those who want to work.
In 2006, John Stossel had a program on ABC, in which he stated that conservative Christians are the most generous contributors to charity. I am appalled at the low charitable-giving rate of many liberals, in and out of Congress. Evidently, it is okay to confiscate my money, but they feel no need to share their wealth from the heart.
Among the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence are the pursuit of happiness and the liberty to strive for our goals, not cradle-to-grave nanny care. It is entrepreneurs and small-business owners who keep the engine of a free market humming. After years of hard work “by the sweat of their brow,” they sometimes earn more than $250,000, a sum on which Obama wants to impose higher taxes to give to those who pay NO taxes. (About 35-40 percent of Americans DO NOT pay taxes.)
I do agree with Warner when he says that government ownership of companies is “debatable” and “heavy deficit spending” is “questionable and does have potential to cause even more long-term damage.”
Perhaps the “socialist” label could be dispensed with, as Warner suggests, but maybe we could agree that the president’s financial policies will cause greater harm than good, and are unwise, unworkable and destructive.
By Donna Volmerding
Published in The Journal Gazette, March 17, 2009
Published in The Journal Gazette, March 17, 2009
