What makes Obama a "Socialist"?

Share that with neophyte110. I was only responding to his attempt to educate me on the "correct" definition of socialism.

 

A socialist believes that the government know better than you on how you should spend your money. A communist believes that only he knows better than you how to spend your money. A free market capitalist believes that you know better than anyone how to spend your money. Remember one thing dear children the government that governs least governs best.

 

but i have absolutely no fucking idea how to spend my money

fortunately, thanks to the draining of capital from the american people by corporations and their executives, i don't have much . . .

[keeps my tax bills low]

 

Only a capitalist could say that . It's not always about money you know (indeed, in a purely communist system, you don't even need money).

Capitalism is essentially that every man works for himself.
Communism is essentially that every man works for the greater good.
Socialism sits somewhere between those two extremes.

 

Only until you loose your job and need unemployment, or public assistance. Only until you find out you have cancer and your health insurance gets canceled. Only until a disaster hits and you need FEMA and government money to rebuild our home. Only until your neighbor is beating the hell out of you need you need a cop and an ambulance. Only until your house is on fire and you need a fireman. Only until you need to go somewhere and need an interstate highway to drive on.

When you sit down to dinner this evening you can eat it without fear of contracting some bacterial disease, and afterward while you're worrying about that one one thousandth of a cent of your money that was spent on feeding a poor hungry family, you can take your antacid without fear of being poisoned, all thanks to the FDA.

Then you can sit in front of your TV and watch the news on the wars from your safe home thanks to the military and police departments. Then, when the economic news comes on you can wonder why the free market capitalist nations are having to borrow money to stay afloat from Communist China where their economy is growing.

.

 

Who gets to define "the greater good"?

 

the community

 

All 6+ billion?

 

wow, you live in a much larger community than i do, we only have about 6+ thousand

[or you actually do think globally, congrats!]

there are as many different ways of implementing communism as there are of implementing any political theory

i personally think global issues [ecology, trade, warfare] should be dealt with by the global community

but there are smaller issues that need to be dealt with by the local community [the neighborhood, city, or region]

smallest of all issues should be at the discretion of the household community . . .

not sure what doctrinaire communism has to say about any of this, as i could not tell you which form of communism is doctrinaire

[i tend to favor kropotkin's thinking on some things]

 

here's a little bit of disorganized or uninstitutionalized socialism at work

the local ag people run a little non-profit that helps small farmers with processing and marketing, helps people grow, cook, and sell their own produce, etc.

they had VISTA people make a website for them, but the VISTAs move on . . .

i heard they needed help with their site, and volunteered my services, and spent the last three days re-doing the site [i work in straight html and had to clean up the bad code dreamweaver generated] and adding new pages

under organized or institutionalized socialism, i would have been paid

[or at least earned my iron rice bowl]

note: this is a very simplistic explanation, but also very real life

 

Yeah, you mean free market capitalism like Enron? Or perhaps AIG? How about Lehman Bros.? Or maybe Goldman Sachs....GM, Chrysler...

There is no such thing as 'free market capitalism'. That is the intellectual equivalent of 'the tooth fairy'....(but SOMEONE is taking the teeth, so it MUST be true, right?)

How did we get in so much trouble? Because we let the 'free market' run things without accountability or consequences. AIG should be bankrupt in a real free market. Accountability is not socialism (see above).

It is just illogical to believe that huge wealthy mega-corporations have an agenda that doesn't involve rigging the system for huge profits at our expense, leaving the crumbs for the middle class, who are taking on a bigger and bigger portion of the tax burden.

Supply side economics will go down in history as the worst idea ever, assuming that people can afford history books in the future.

 

Just trying to determine your definition of community, and my community is a little over 100.
Are you promoting a Communist form of government for the U.S.?
Global issues generally are dealt with globally, although enforcement is another issue.
Communism works great when the society as a whole accepts it. Stalin and Mao were able to achieve that.

 

The imagination of right-wingers?

 

and here's some more...

when i lived in a very small town in cali there was a thrift shop with a crappy book setup

i've been a bookseller since the late 80s, so i volunteered to help them, they accepted, i built new shelves, gave them a couple of thousand books, sales went up to help their noble cause, which was...

...running a food bank, feeding people every day, paying some bills for people in trouble, providing community service work for juvenile offenders, counseling new parents, etc.

now i'm in montana, and there is another thrift store with a crappy book setup

except it's run by the hospital and i am not allowed to volunteer, you have to join a 'guild', and basically be an elderly woman to do that

and there's a food bank, it's open once a month, and it's run by the assembly of god church so that avenue is closed as well

under socialism, all of these would be run by the government, and a person with my ability would be welcome, no matter my age, gender, or religious beliefs

of course, under socialism/communism/anarchism [i'm being loose] there'd be less need for food banks and thrift shops...

 

there are things that affect your community of 100 only that you should be responsible for and to

if the way you behave impacts the community next door, then a larger community needs to moderate

that's what i think

as far as stalin and mao go, they were terrible at communism, but great at stalinism and maoism

[the dictatorship of the paranoid]

 

Are there some laws that prohibit you from volunteering your services that I'm unaware of?
You make it sound so good. Would I be provided with a Bugatti Veyron free of charge under that form of government? If so count me in, if not I'd rather return to the original intent of our Constitutional Republic form of government, and buy my own.

 

there are no laws against discriminatory practices in the "hiring" of volunteers

because these are private concerns rather than government concerns, they do what they please

i do not know what a bugatti veyron is, or even less, why you might need one

as to the original form of government in america, don't you mean the government of the descendants of illegal aliens who invaded this continent and practiced aggressive warfare and genocide to obtain "ownership"?

such behavior is an excellent argument against the idea of property, thank you!

as far as politics goes, i think i'd prefer some of the native ideas . . .

 

Everyone worked, everyone ate and everyone was free. They took care of the sick and elderly, and even helped the white man survive the first few years.

Presently I know people who are out of work and some who work overtime. What would happen if everyone was put to work and salaries (including bonuses) were capped? The work week would shrink to about 30 hours a week, pay could remain the same or go up and public assistance would be limited to those who are actually disabled.

Take it one step farther and nationalize corporations; everyone could share the profits and everyone would have a better sense of community and national pride. Workers would also see a direct relationship between their work and their profits, as opposed to their work and the profits of the filthy rich. Nothing can undermine productivity than drawing a $400 pay check while the CEO makes $40 million a year spending much of his time on the golf course.

Socialism and Capitalism accomplish the same goal, to distribute the wealth. The biggest difference is, Capitalism gives the biggest rewards for greed and excess while Socialism rewards work and community. When all is said and done, wealth does not make an individual happier or more satisfied with life, but it does make others resentful, thus inhibiting the cohesiveness of culture.

As the gap between the rich and poor widens, Americans have lost the sense of pride in their work that once made American products the best in the world.

.

 

There may come a tipping point when people can see the logic of what you have said. The present system seems to be collapsing and its faults becoming more obvious.

 

psychic?

i used this same argument with one of eastern montana's finest conservatives not a half hour ago . . .

her reply was "put them in jail"

mine? "but it's legal, and every time anyone tries to make it illegal, you cry socialism!"