That is one of the most memorable lines from the movie "The Princess Bride". It is Inigo Montoya's response to Vizzini's oft exclaimed phrase "Inconceivable!". Lately the term Socialist and Marxist has been bantered around quite a bit. Most notably during an interview conducted by Babara West of Orlando's WFTV with VP nominee Joe Biden.
Ms. West asked,
"How is Sen. Obama not being Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?"
Have we been reduced to name calling in our national debate? Jospeh McCarthy employed similar tactics from 1953-1954. His technique of using libel to besmirch the character of good citizens and muzzle dissent with the threat of accusation earned him Censure in the Senate in 1954.
I am going to preface my next statement by saying that the people accusing Obama and Biden for being Socialist or Marxist have no inkling of what either are. However for argument's sake lets assume they are correct. This "Socialist/Marxist" idea about "redistributing the wealth" as some alien and seditious act that will undermine the very "American Way of Life"......Heaven forbid!
So in the interest of fairness allow me to use the definition of Socialism/Marxism that is currently being used to tar Obama and Biden. The "Earned Income Tax Credit" is perhaps one of the most effective redistributions of wealth in recent years.
As David Gergen explains in a recent interview,
"It's [Earned Income tax Credit} a program whereby, if you're a working person, a working couple and you're below the poverty line, the government will actually give you money. That's a redistributed program. It's a program which takes money from the upper classes and gives it to the lower -- to the working poor."
Who is this far-left, rabidly anti-rich, anarchists who dares to use government to aid the poor or downtrodden?
I'll let Gergen tell you,
"Now who started that program? The earned income tax credit? Ronald Reagan. It was one of the -- it was an achievement of the Reagan administration that Bill Clinton then built on."
Some advice to my conservative friends. Stones and glass houses don't mix.
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6 comments:
Hey Sarah Palin...What did you do with the money you recieved from the oil companies? Went back to the town right?
Oh no, that makes you a socialist too!
Are you serious? WAKE UP FOOLS! I couldn't have said it better myself...
Let's begin our economics lessons today with a few questions...
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH SOCIALISM?
Do you believe in private property?
How would you feel if someone took yours?
Where has socialism ever succeeded?
What does the government do well?
What does the Bible have to say about economics?
What did America's founders have to say about economics?
Is socialism constitutional?
Most people believe in private property – especially their own.
Most people don't like having their things stolen. In fact, it's government's job to protect you from theft, not to be the thief.
Most people will be unable to point to a single successful socialist experiment – unless they choose some relatively new Western nation with a "mixed economy." Those include Canada, formerly Great Britain, France and other European countries. You could even include the U.S. in this category. It's important to recognize that mere survival as a nation over a period of time does not make for a successful experiment. Socialism, for instance, aims to eliminate or reduce poverty. In none of these nations has poverty been eliminated or reduced as a result of socialist experiments.
Most people recognize that government is an inherently inefficient beast. What they might not recognize is that it is also poses the greatest threat to freedom. The more power it has, the less freedom individual citizens have. Government is a necessary evil – something that should be tolerated as a limited nuisance, not counted on for your basic needs.
Most people don't realize the Bible countenances private property. It holds it up as honorable – as long as it does not become a diversion from God, as long as it does not become man's god.
Most people apparently forget what our founders had to say about property. They forget that our Constitution expressly limits the power of the federal government. You could say constitutionally limited government is the opposite of socialism.
But, as Barack Obama would say, these are "just words." And I am afraid mere words will not be enough to persuade anyone against mankind's innate desire to collectivize and rebel against God's order.
So, as I predicted in my most recent book, "None of the Above," it will likely take some strong medicine to cure America of its infectious flirtation with socialism. I believe that medicine, believe it or not, is named Barack Obama.
It's not that I wish this virus on Americans. In fact, I have done my personal best to awaken the country to his wiles and deceptions and immorality. But it has been to little avail. Americans have been duped. They have been conned through government education and mindless media and elitist manipulation to trade in their birthright of freedom for a mess of pottage.
But their education is coming. It is not coming from me. It is coming from the inevitably failed policies of Barack Obama and his party over the next two years. It's going to be a painful awakening. Just wait until you see how expensive "free" health care really is. Just wait until you see how little wealth you have after he spreads it around. Just wait until you see what it's like to have to ask a government bureaucrat for permission to do things you once took for granted.
That's what's wrong with socialism.
People have to see it for themselves.
They have to experience the misery and the control.
They have to see it with their own eyes.
Then, maybe then, we will have a chance to get America back on track.
Then, maybe then, we will have enough courage and desire to fight to regain what we have lost.
Then, maybe then, our experiences will protect us, for awhile, from the freedom-stealers.
Then, maybe then, we will have enough sense to educate our young people as to the inherent evils of socialism – so they won't be fooled, again."
~ Joseph Farah
Why hide the facts behind over worded verbage of no great value to most.. lets break it down for the average Joe..
In a local restaurant my server had on an 'Obama 08' tie, again I laughed as he had given away his political preference--just imagine the coincidence.
When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight. I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I've decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful. At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even though the actual recipient needed the money more. I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.
The plain truth hurts a bit...
http://www.neoconnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/baracksocialismeyes1.jpg
hitek: That just makes you a total jerk. Congrats on cementing the fact that allowing people like you "the free market" decide where money goes doesn't work.
l337 etc:
You guys are taking talking head points from the far right and spouting them as fact. Now if you guys had any idea about the actual polices that Obama wants to implement you would realize how wrong every single one of your statements is.
Obama has said multiple times that he wants to change the direction of the country. Not by giving things away to people who haven't worked for them but to give things back to the country that have been taken from us.
First, remove the unfair Bush tax breaks for people making over $200,000 a year. Cut taxes on people making under $200,000 a year.
Second use our tax dollars to invest in OUR country's infrastructure. Now here's where your redistribution of wealth blabber breaks down. The wealth is "redistributed" as you like to say in the form of JOBS. You like roads and telephone lines and cable lines. You want your fiber optics right? You want bridges fixed and built right?
Invest in R&D because frankly our R&D is now slacking seriously comparing to Europe and Asia. Why? Because we're not investing in it as much as we used to... Wait! More "redistribution of wealth" going on here in the form of R&D jobs!
Invest in education primarily focusing on teachers and making teaching a more promising career. NO ONE can disagree that the people we trust to teach our children should do a good job and be compensated properly. Well again teachers salaries are very low in this country because of bad policy.
l337 in particular:
Your post is so contradictory that I don't know if you're serious or not.
After freaking out about how terrible socialism is you then say:
"Most people will be unable to point to a single successful socialist experiment – unless they choose some relatively new Western nation with a "mixed economy." Those include Canada, formerly Great Britain, France and other European countries"
Wow... Talk about cognitive dissonance... Socialism doesn't work but does work... Doesn't your head just want to explode?
Craig is not a socialist.
Obama is not a socialist.
I am not a socialist.
But I do support socializing some things... Such as Health Care, because some things don't mix at all and this is one of them.
A profit driven Health Care system makes it's money how?
I'll start you on the answer and let you continue. "Cutting costs..." Please expand on that and educate yourself on the subject.
-Wes
Here you go guys right from his own mouth. Please listen to the man.
http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/barack-obama-speaks-rachel-maddow
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