The Virtue of Selfishness

This morning, in Sarasota, Florida, Senator Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. plowed through another of his automated diatribes.  However, in the midst of his usual double speak, Obama's political split personality syndrome manifested itself in a moment of unguarded candor. 

The Obama before the 2008 presidential election campaign is not the presidential Obama who deals in the cheap currency of campaign promises.  The authentic Obama is the friend and associate of society's ideological subversives: Ayers, Rev. Wright, and Kahlidi to name a few. These are substantial associations and speak to the issue of character. Contrary to liberal ideology (and the Obama campaign), history is not malleable. 

This morning, perched on his sanctified dais, Obama responded to the accusation that he is, in fact, a socialist.  What was his enlightened response?  Obama did not deny the charge but simply retorted that selfishness has become a virtue.  Is this just Obama's version of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need?" (Karl Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program) Apparently, it's selfish to keep what you've worked hard for.  It's selfish to not desire to relinquish your hard earned money to the Federal government so Congress can turn around and hand it over in another Democratic Party multi billion dollar bailout/handout session. It's selfish for the individual to desire to remain an individual and to succeed. Selfish for everyone except Obama, ensconced in his million dollar dacha. Maybe, Obama will balance the budget by the end of his first term, despite the 700 billion dollar welfare check to the big banks, by confiscating our hard earned dollars in an orgy of aggressive taxation. Biden thinks it's patriotic to pay confiscatory taxes.  Obama thinks that keeping more of your hard earned dollars is selfish.  You do the math. What do you think an Obama presidency will mean to your bank account? Click here for Obama in his own words. 

Obama: Closet Marxist?

Deep within the recesses of Barack Hussein Obama’s mind, shambling among moldering tomes lying scattered amid the fetid remains of an Ivy League education, moves a specter with indistinct form.  In the shadow other shapes dissemble; the wraith-like presence of the Reverend Wright; the hunched William Ayers, scribbling with malevolent intent.  But larger and more ominous still, slouches a form that flees from the light to find solace in inky shadow.  Close scrutiny resolves the form and reveals the bearded visage of Karl Marx.

During a rally on Sunday, Obama said, “I think when you spread the wealth around, its good for everybody.”  This statement may seem innocuous to some.  It may sound like a good idea to play Robin Hood and steal from the rich to give to the poor.  However, there is a price to pay for this brand of largess.  Karl Marx, in The Communist Manifesto, looked forward to a world in which "the proletariat will use its political supremacy to wrest, by degrees, all capital from the bourgeoisie, to centralise [sic] all instruments of production in the hands of the state." Marx also proposed the imposition of "a heavy progressive or graduated income tax" to accomplish his vision of wealth redistribution.  

Do I think that Barack Hussein Obama is a Communist? No.  However, based on his statements, I believe that Obama's economic policies are heavily influenced by Marxist principals.  These principals are antithetical to our Capitalist tradition.  A tradition of private property ownership and of private control of capital resources.  Obama's policies would undermine the economic principles which make our political freedoms possible.  Republics do not long survive under the weight of collectivist ideas.  Obama will lead us down the road, by degrees, toward an Americanized version of Marxism.  It's a friendly brand of socialism but no less a betrayal of our national heritage.  Obama's tax and spend policies are cut from the same old cloth that Democrats have used for decades.  The change that Obama proposes is a change that Karl Marx would have approved.    

"Let me put it this way: no serious person can deny that Marxist ideas had a profound impact on what we call liberalism. To point this out doesn't mean that one is calling, say, Barack Obama a Stalinist or a communist." (Jonah Goldberg, Liberal Fascism)

Click here for Jonah Goldberg's Blog: Liberal Fascism