Obama & Socialism? Thoughts About Obama’s Tax Plan
 

                                             By Kyle Van Horn

 

The other day, I was reading a debate on a political discussion board among some people I know in America. They were going back and forth passionately, one fighting for Obama, the other for McCain, as if their lives depended on a victory for their candidate.

Obama supporter: ...All I can say is change your TV off of Fox News, and step away from the remote. I am in awe of just how proud you are of McCain/Palin, quite possibly the most embarrassing ticket in our lifetime.

McCain supporter: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122385651698727257.html
Read this article, then decide...

Obama supporter: Only if you read "The Audacity of Hope", then decide. Maybe if John McCain had a single thought of his own on where to take our country, I would be willing to listen to those who feel it's productive to bash Obama. My vote will be cast tomorrow in early voting, and it's not even close. I have no interest in watching a SNL skit for the next 4 years. Our country has become enough of a joke over the last 8 years.

McCain supporter: McCain has more experience than Obama, even Palin has more experience than Obama. But, I guess if you're in favor of Socialism then Obama is the way to go.

The debate goes on in much the same way for a long, long time. Neither side makes any intriguing or thought provoking statements. Basically, they just go back and forth, pulling from the bag of prepared blanket statements issued by the Obama and McCain camps and/or the media that supports them.

No real issues are discussed aside from who has the better tax plan, which has been on everyone’s minds since Joe “the plumber” came into our lives. Even then, it wasn’t really about the numbers. The main issue of concern was whether or not Obama was a Socialist. Not only is he a black man. Not only is his middle name Hussein. Now he is something far worse, a Marxist who’s interested in, dare I say? Spreading the wealth!

Before I added my own two cents, …

Hi guys. I've read all your comments, and frankly, I'm quite surprised that any of you could feel so strongly for either half of the duopoly. I know most are unwilling to give Ralph Nader a shot, but is that opinion based on his policies (which are far more logical than either McCain's or Obama's), or just that you don't want to vote for the guy you know will lose? Imagine if everyone could answer this question honestly. You know what the answer would be. Wouldn't that be something? If we could turn the system on its head? If we could actually make the people's voice heard for the first time in most of our voting lifetimes? Just a thought.

… I read the article put forth as an argument against Obama by the McCain supporter above. Well, upon first glance, I noticed the article came from the Wall Street Journal. After all the fabrication and outright lies I’ve read in that paper in the past, I had little optimism that I would read anything worthwhile. Nevertheless, I continued.

The article was entitled “Obama’s 95% Illusion”. The article’s aim was to break down Obama’s supposed “tax cut” plan and expose it for the supposed Socialism it really is. The author’s theory is that Obama is trying to pull the wool over our eyes in order to put a plan into motion that will give the richest 5% of Americans “one of the largest tax increases ever.”

The article goes over the seven credits included in Obama’s plan will help out the poorest Americans. These include a $500 tax credit to people who make less than $75K per year, a $4,000 tax credit for college, a 10% mortgage interest tax credit, a “clean car” tax credit of up to $7,000, and other credits that will benefit people who are trying to raise families, buy homes, pay child support, and save for college tuition costs.

“Here’s the political catch,” says the author. “All but the clean car credit would be ‘refundable’… In other words, they are an income transfer – a federal check – from taxpayers to non-taxpayers.” The author leaves the reader with little choice but to view this as an Obama preparation to spread the wealth. This is not true Socialism, but most American readers, who have never been properly educated about any economic system, and who view “Capitalism” and “democracy” as synonymous, might finish the article thinking Obama is disguising his dirty Socialist agenda as a tax cut.

The article goes on to explain the ins and outs of Obama’s atrocity, and how not only will the wealthy suffer the majority of the country’s tax burden, but how the lazy poor will surely have less incentive to work hard as their tax credits will vanish more and more every time they move into a higher tax bracket.

This article really got me thinking. It poses so many questions in my mind that I didn’t even know where to begin once I got back on the discussion board. So instead of writing there again, other than to tell the people there what I’m about to tell you, I decided to put my thoughts down on paper and direct them here.

My first thought while reading the article was this: If it’s true what the article was saying ; if Obama really is trying to initiate Socialist-type programs in America, why would he want to disguise them? The obvious answer to this question is that Americans have been force fed anti-Marxist propaganda for so many decades that the word “Socialist” cannot be mentioned without a gasp accompanied by thoughts of the old Soviet Union, North Korean high-kick marches, Fidel’s beard and military fatigues, tanks and missiles being paraded down the street, endless lines of impoverished people waiting for bread, and leaders who don’t speak English spitting fiery rhetoric at faceless crowds of onlookers. Never would a major party candidate in the Land of the Free openly mix his name up with such images.

The McCain supporter put the article in question forth as an argument not to vote for Obama, and the author of the article is obviously trying to sway readers to vote for McCain. This being said, if anything, this article swayed me a little closer to Obama. No doubt, my opinion is driven by the fact that I am aware of the real meaning Socialism in the 21st Century, which is, among other things, a democratically elected leader encouraging people to make better lives for themselves by organizing at the grassroots level. ( http://links.org.au/node/503 ). By looking at Obama’s platform as a whole, we can easily see that he has no intention of sparking the revolution of which our country is so desperately in need. For a split second, though, the article gave me a glimmer of hope, pun intended. Maybe, just maybe, despite the fact that Obama is the recipient of an absurd amount of corporate funding, he is using the system ingeniously. Maybe he’s letting the special interest groups pay for his election to, in turn, reverse the flow of capital on them and help those who really need help once he is elected. Heading toward the election, that’s what some of the more liberal Obama supporters seem to believe. I know, it’s wishful thinking. But maybe.

One thing that is not a maybe, but a certainty is this: People like me don’t read the Wall Street Journal regularly, although I will pick it up from time to time to see what’s happening in the world of illusion as well as to keep myself motivated to get the truth out there at all costs. The people who read articles like this regularly are the ones who go away from reading feeling real fear and anger inside. They think those lazy poor people don’t want to go out there and get a job. The poor just want to sit around on the couch all day and do drugs and make more poor babies and mooch off of us, the hard working taxpayers.

I will be the first to admit. Some do. But do opponents of Obama’s plan really believe that if, and this is a huge “if”, a father of a poor family in America is about to start making $75K for the first time not only in his life, but for the first time in his entire bloodline, that he will cease to work hard and commence sucking the system dry? The people who oppose Obama’s plan underestimate the pride and dignity of America’s working class.

No system will ever be perfect for everyone in America in that there will always be people out there looking to get by doing as little work as possible. But I can guarantee, having grown up in a household with two parents working full time who still needed government assistance that, one, a majority of the poor living in America are hard workers, and two, the majority of the poor in America yearn for a better life and still believe (in varying degrees) in the American dream. A book that illustrates this idea very well is Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_and_Dimed

Of course there are people who have worked hard for years in America and have achieved success. It is possible. And I am sorry for those kinds of people if they have to dole out their hard earned money to someone whom they feel is fundamentally unworthy of such charity. Those kinds of people, the ones who start with nothing and build fortune 500 companies, are the kinds of stories we see on Oprah. They are so touching. They keep that idea in the backs of the minds of all poor Americans that the American dream is within reach... that we might win the lottery, or that we might somehow, upon some stroke of fortune, strike it rich beyond our wildest expectations!

For the majority of Americans, though, this will not happen. Ever. And those Americans, the hard workers who are the unassuming victims of US Capitalism, the Americans who still believe that they’re working hard to better themselves and their country, deserve a little payback. They deserve everything Obama’s so-called Socialist programs will give them and more. In fact, I’ll go as far as saying they need more than Obama’s plan, which offers something with a trace amount of a hint of something that might one day possibly resemble real Socialism. They need real Socialism. This country has been catering to the wealthy elite for so long that most people are utterly incapable of imagining a better system. There is a better system, though. A system where there are no elites. A system that doesn’t naturally widen the gap between the rich and the poor with each passing second.

The system which exists in the United States today not only keeps its own poor in perpetually worsening conditions, but contributes to the rising poverty rate worldwide year after year, and election after meaningless election. As far as the poor are concerned, the current system simply doesn’t work. Why not shake up the system a bit? What are Americans afraid of? If they take an honest look at what the US is turning into, do they not see a state that is continually moving toward martial law anyway? Are they afraid that any aspect of Socialism within our society will result in a dictatorship?

American citizens, the majority of whom work hard yet still struggle to get by, need to change their way of thinking. As we can see by the political discussion board that helped inspire this article, it will be difficult to fight against generations of carefully planned indoctrination. But I encourage the good people of America to look at evolving Socialist programs around the world. And I don’t mean look at what publications like the Wall Street Journal say about them. Look how they are being built from the bottom up. Look at how they don’t cater to the wealthy elite, but at how they work for and with the hard workers who make the country run.

In fact, look at any current revolution, and examine both sides carefully. Who hates Hugo Chavez? The elite who got rich off the country’s natural wealth for centuries? Who hates Evo Morales? The elite who are trying to keep a firm grasp on the country’s resources while continuing to let the poor starve. Who hates Fidel Castro? The Cuban elite families, most of whom reside in Florida now, who were forced to give up their stronghold on the country’s capital in order for the masses to have food, clothing, and shelter. Who hates all of these guys? The US government, because these leaders are no longer letting big US companies go into their countries to exploit their natural resources at the expense of the majority who live there. Who else hates these guys? You. Why? I’m not quite sure. Are you?

More than likely, if you are reading this article, you are one of those people who would benefit under a true Socialist system like the ones we see evolving around the world. You are a hard worker striving toward a more comfortable life.

I am not writing today to support Barack Obama as most of his policies are mirror images of those of John McCain and thus leave a lot to be desired. Barack Obama is not a Socialist, nor will he ever be a Socialist. But what if he were? Would it really be so bad? Really? To put it simply, I am disappointed at an American public who, when faced with a glimmer of hope for change, let the simple misunderstanding of a word discourage them from making an educated decision about the future of their country.

A final thought. More often than not, when I argue points such as this one with the regular American people I know, I am answered with a condescending grin at the very least. Otherwise, I’ll be answered with some patronizing remarks, hinting at how adorable it is that I want to save the world from evil. And far too often I am labeled outright as a traitor. A traitor! A man who hates America! A terrorist! Well, I disagree.

“I cannot live without books.”

“The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”

“Enlighten the people, generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like spirits at the dawn of day.”

“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive.”

“The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.”

“We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.”

“Every generation needs a new revolution.”

These are just a few of things Thomas Jefferson had to say not about Capitalism, which is NOT the idea that America was founded upon despite what some may believe, but democracy. If I am not a patriot, well, neither was he.