Barack Obama Channels Karl Marx in St. Louis
It’s gotten to the point where Barack Obama doesn’t even need to hide his socialism.
“It comes down to values – in America, do we simply value wealth, or do we value the work that creates it?” Obama said at a rally under the Gateway Arch. “I’m not giving tax cuts to folks who don’t work. I’m giving tax cuts to folks who do work. That’s right, Missouri – John McCain is so out of touch with the struggles you are facing that he must be the first politician in history to call a tax cut for working people ‘welfare.’”
[Emphasis mine]
Let’s set aside the fact that his so-called tax cut plan is an empty shell that does amount to welfare for people who pay no taxes at all.
What I want to look at is the sentence I emphasized which is much more succinct in the original German. In America we value neither wealth nor work by themselves. What we do value is the ability to keep what we earn. We value the ability to create wealth for ourselves, to go from being a plumber today to owning a plumbing company in a couple years. We value the ability to work toward a better, more prosperous life.
Barack Obama does not believe in that. He does not believe that you can become rich. His view of the world says that it is unfair that some people make more money than others and that the government must decide what is a fair living and what is not. That’s what that sentence I highlighted really means. Karl Marx put it another way:
In a higher phase of communist society, after the enslaving subordination of the individual to the division of labor, and therewith also the antithesis between mental and physical labor, has vanished; after labor has become not only a means of life but life’s prime want; after the productive forces have also increased with the all-around development of the individual, and all the springs of co-operative wealth flow more abundantly—only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be crossed in its entirety and society inscribe on its banners: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs
What Barack is doing when he “values” work, is making it “life’s prime want”. Notice the slick misdirection. We “value” work by rewarding with government largess, taken from the others who he describes as “the person who owns the factory”, “the extremely wealthy and well-connected”, and “those at the very top”. But that, folks, is not valuing work. That is garden-variety socialism, else the word has no meaning at all.
Let me be plain. He wants to “value” your work by deciding exactly how much wealth you should have. He wants to make things “fair” by taking the fruits of your labors from you and giving it to someone else because he believes that is “good for everybody”.
But it isn’t. He is lying. Socialism has never, ever been “good for everybody”. All you need to do is look at countries like North Korea, the former Soviet Union, Cuba, or China. See how vast and woeful their peasant class really is. See how their elites live in luxury while most of the people work themselves to the bone to fuel their lifestyles.
And remember, Barack Obama is one of those elites.
(via memeorandum)
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Category: The Economy and Your Money, The Obamessiah
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Herr Jimmie:
Your comprehension of what constitutes socialism is lacking. There is a distinction between a social contract with the people ensuring that the working class does not suffer needlessly and the truly redistributionist mentality of socialism. And, really, we're not going to get any more socialist than, say, Sweden or something – and they do just fine for themselves.
Best.
Thanks for yet another interesting post! There was just one thing here that caught my eye and bugged me:
"Arbeid macht frei" is (as the Wiki link states) the slogan which, in a cruel irony, was placed above the gates of Nazi concentration camps. It is not some socialist slogan, but a German nationalist/nazistic slogan. And while perhaps you were just thinking that the essence of "Arbeid macht frei" could seem to sum up Obama's stance on taxes, it easily gives the impression you are slyly comparing him to the nazis. Which would be both tacky and absurd, not to mention an insult to the memory of those whose work certainly did not free them from concentration camps. I'm sure we agree, but just wanted to let you know how that little bit of the post came off.
Mari, though I'm not saying that he is a Nazi, I am saying that his socialism and the fascist actions of his followers are not dissimilar to theirs.
Why were you hired to write columns for some stupid internet magazine if you don't use facts and history to detail your stories. When we paid taxes in the past, now, and future ALL tax money gets redistributed into the police, fire department, construction, military, keeping cities clean, i mean the list goes on. What you pay out of your earnings goes to the street sweeper and marine working for YOU. Obama wants to CUT… ahem… CUT taxes for the people who are the backbone of this country. The MIDDLECLASS. So why would you worry what the government does with it when your taxes are so low and your cut is so huge you make MORE MONEY. The crazy tax is on the rich bastards who PUT US IN THIS MESS. Capitalism failed. A little socialism is in everything we do, like 700 billion dollar bailouts, absolute power in Bush by signing the Emergency Constituent Act or some shit like that. Get your head right man please.
Let me help you out a little, Jake.
1) This isn't an internet magazine and I wasn't hired. This is a blog and I own it.
2) Infrastructure is far from the only thing paid for by taxes. Perhaps you're heard of a little thing called earmarks. Perhaps you've heard of welfare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Maybe not.
3) Obama's plan can not possibly cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans because 95 percent of Americans do not pay taxes.
4) Capitalism did not fail. Government failed. Again.
The problem is not the rich, but how much is taken by government from a free people. We have chosen to be enslaved by a broken banking and taxing system and do nothing to change it. Take back the power with HR25.
@Karl Marx – Ask a Swede who in a recent survey conducted by Swedes found out that his power of acquisition (the stuff he can afford to buy) is lower than that of an American on welfare, if they are doing fine. And ask the average Swede if a 50%+ taxation rate feels good. Most Swedes that are able to rise above mediocrety end up leaving the country for some tax haven like Monaco. See how helpful that is to any economy. Our country is the greatest country on earth with the highest per capita income and standard of living (consult any almanac) because we have refused to accept socialist principles. Because we are a capitalist nation that believes in the ability of each individual to improve themselves without some demagogue "helping" you do it. The only way you could make such a stupid comment is if you haven't lived in a socialist country and have not educated yourself properly.
@Karl Marx -
Go ask a Swede who pays over 50% in taxes and has less money to spend than an American on welfare if they are doing just fine you moron. Google "reality of life in socialist Sweden" and wake up. The only way you could say something so stupid is if in fact you've never lived in a socialist country and haven't educated yourself. Or maybe you are part of a socialist elite, though I doubt it, so that narrows it down doesn't it?
Excellent response Jimmie. I'm subscribing to your blog.
@Mari -
Are you kidding me? Do yourself a favor and look up the full name of the Nazi party. It stood for National Socialist Party! The Nazis had socialist tendencies just like Barack does, of course on steroids.
Gus, my point wasn't so much WHO originated the phrase "Arbeid macht frei" as WHAT it has come to signify. That is, the sheer, almost gleeful sadism that was the concentration camps of the Nazis. Which, I would hope we can all agree, is a long way from taxes.