Ok, A) I am really irritated by the talking points of Sarah Palin and others who are now continually saying that if we elect Obama, we may as well be inviting Socialism in to our midst and then immediately follow that up by saying his “spread the wealth around” theory is something directly from Karl Marx.
I can see now how their campaign meetings must go…
“Our attempts to tie him to terrorists and to hold him accountable for what his preacher said from the pulpit have not worked (and by the way – how cool is it that the press has totally ignored Sarah Palin’s own freaky-preacher? Let’s drink to that!). Our attempts to stir up America’s latent distrust of “the other” have not worked, even after we hired that girl to pretend she was assaulted by a big, black Obama supporter. Do you think her own idiocy in obviously carving a B on her face in the mirror was a dead give away? Or was it the fact that she never appeared on the camera at the ATM machine where she said the assault took place? Anyway, the American people are not scared enough. I don’t really understand that - I mean, he’s black and just listen to his name! – but it is obvious from the polls that our base of inbred ignorami is not large enough this time to combat those who have a few brain cells to run together. What should we do this week? We can’t be expected to get elected based on our platform! We need more sources of fear!”
To put it more simply: Liberals want decisions to be spread out among more people, preferably everyone; conservatives want decisions to be made by as few people as possible, preferably just one.
As envisioned by Marx and Engels, Socialism is, ideally, a system within which everyone would share the benefits of industrialization. Socialism is not a political system; it's a way of distributing goods and services. At their ideal implementation, Socialism and Capitalism would be essentially identical, as everyone would produce exactly what's needed for exactly who needs it. In practice, both may work in small economies, but they fail miserably when applied to national and international economies. The two theories fail for the same reason: Human perversity. Too many people don't like to play fair, too many people are greedy, and both systems work only when everyone follow the same rules.
Socialism is liberal. More people (preferably everyone) have a say in how the economy works. Well, likewise, Democracy is liberal. In a true Democracy, more people (preferably everyone) have some say in how the government works. Marx himself said: "Democracy is the road to Socialism."
Communism is conservative. Under Communism, fewer and fewer people (preferably just the Party Secretary) have any say in how the economy works. Republicans are (supposed to be) conservative. Fewer and fewer people (preferably just people controlling the Party figurehead) have any say in how the government works. The conservatives in the US today are in the same position as the communists in the 30s, and for the same reason: Their revolutions failed spectacularly but they refuse to admit what went wrong.
So let’s look at this crap for what it is. You know how people oftentimes hate in other people what the really hate in themselves (for instance, you hate that your friend Phyllis is incredibly vain, but really you are projecting the hate you have for your own vanity on to her)?
That’s all I’m sayin’.
B) Who the fuck is Joe the Plumber and why should I care what he thinks?
His name isn’t even Joe (his name is Sam). He’s not even a plumber (he has no form of Contractor’s License or even, last I heard, a job of any kind). He was very obviously planted by the GOP at one of Obama’s rallies in what ended up being an ill-fated attempt to give McCain something to talk about at the final Presidential Debate and to put Obama on the spot with questions about his tax rate as a small business owner who may now make over $250k/ year…an income, by the way, that the real Mr. Wurzelbacher is apparently not close to achieving.
Just another in a long line of lies surrounding this man; lies aimed at nothing but making Obama look foolish.
Which was not accomplished.
Watch the clip of or read the article about the actual exchange between “Joe the Plummer” and Barack Obama – the one which spurred John McCain in to mentioning the supposed plumber some 21 times during the final Presidential Debate. Obama never lies to the man; never tries to white-wash the fact that those making over $250k/year will pay more in income tax if he is elected. But he also attempts to sell the concept to “Joe”, also outlining ways in which his small company will be better off, financially, thus making the extra taxes affordable. He never loses his cool and the exchange is respectful on both sides.
“If you look at spreading the wealth, that's honestly right out of Karl Marx's mouth," Wurzelbacher said. "No one can debate that. That's not my opinion. That's fact."
Well actually – there is plenty to debate in that statement, my ignorant friend, but more to this, my second point: Who the hell are you and are you seriously the best person out there to be stumping for McCain at this juncture of the campaign? A non-plumber who had 15 minutes of fame because he once asked Barack Obama a question?
It should also be noted that, at the rally highlighted in the linked article, he also agreed with an elderly Jewish lady who said that "a vote for Barack Obama is a vote for the death to Israel."
Look, I understand some people may not want to pay more taxes. I get it, really I do. My own uncle, for example - he is a business owner with a modicum of wealth (certainly far more than me or anybody in the California arm of his family tree). He is smart and has worked very hard throughout his life, building his company from three employees to over 300. He works very hard to make sure those employees are taken care of and that the business grows so that he can employee more people who therefore pay more taxes. He doesn’t think he should have to pay more in taxes to cover others, just because he has either worked harder or been luckier or a combination of the two. I understand that point of view. I don’t agree with it, but I get it.
Why? Because all they can see at this point is their own ambition. And since they are several points behind in all nationwide polls, they are desperate. As witnessed in, at best, their silent acquiescence to maniacs shouting things like “Traitor!” “Treason!” and “Kill Him!” in reference to Obama at their rallies, they will apparently do or say anything in an effort to get elected.
It is a disgusting display of human weakness. I shudder to think of what people in other countries must think of this sort of spectacle. Not that playing this kind of politics is anything new, of course. Dirty politics are as old as man. But it is heartening to see that the American Public seem, for the most part, to be sick of this kind of crap. We appear to be seeing through the malarkey this time out and those involved in the McCain campaign are the ones who end up looking bad.
The good thing about all of this is that they will not win. John McCain should and, if there is anything left in him of the man he used to be, most likely will be ashamed of how he ran this campaign. If he has much of a career left after it’s all over, I will be surprised. He is past retirement age anyway. I doubt he will run for the Senate again, should he lose this race. Sarah Palin will be popular amongst the Christian Right for a long time, but the CR's power in the GOP is obviously gone. They need to branch off and form their own party. In most ways, they were never truly Republican or Conservative anyway and Republicans only played along with them so long as they brought in sufficient votes to win an election (let's not discuss the hypocrisy of Christianity and Religion because we could be here all damn night). Sarah Palin will be around for a while, but will likewise fall from any real radar. My hunch is she will run for the Republican ticket in 2012 and will be a joke then, as she is now. It is fairly obvious from her recent actions, however, that she is no longer actually campaigning to win this election (since she has essentially defected and is not doing what the McCain camp wants her to do); she is campaigning for her future in the Republican Party.
Although, let’s hope she takes a High School Civics class before then, shall we? At the very least, it would be good for her to know what the job of the Vice President really is (here’s a clue, Governor: The V.P. is not in charge of the U.S. Senate).
Of course, if Obama fails to accomplish anything of substance in his first term, my entire theory will be out the window and it will be back to politics as usual in 2012.
Obama is going to need all of our prayers if/when he takes office, because he will have to work some serious miracles in order to hold on for a second term. The expectations are going to be through the roof and there are plenty of people who want very badly to see him fail (for many reasons). While this subject amounts to another long blog entry entirely, I note it here only to say that this is why it is extremely important that we elect as many Democrats and even Independents to the Senate and the House next week as we can. Democrats must have a 2/3 majority or we will see nothing over the next four years but filibusting. Hell, the GOP has already been on a filibuster rampage over the past two years.
The summarized point of this blog entry?
It Ain't your Daddy's Socialism
Republicans are Virutally Communists
Some People will Say Anything to Get Elected
Democrats are Good
Vote Democratic!
Yay!
Wow, great blog, you should submit it for publication. Seriously, can you imagine what McCain and the GOP would do if everyone starting listening to this kind of real, actual "straight talk" for once?? I think I just heard a collective shudder of fear...Bravo!
Posted by: AmyJ | Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 11:49 PM
wow...thanks...can I use the f word and still get published? :)
Posted by: Karen / ikss | Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at 09:19 AM