Difference between revisions of "Myths/Obama is a socialist"
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Socialism means the public ownership of the means of production. Does President Obama advocate that? Nope, he doesn’t. Has never suggested a single policy that would even hint at it. This is just an attempt to poison the well. The American public thinks socialists are evil and therefore calling someone a socialist inoculates those people against supporting them. | Socialism means the public ownership of the means of production. Does President Obama advocate that? Nope, he doesn’t. Has never suggested a single policy that would even hint at it. This is just an attempt to poison the well. The American public thinks socialists are evil and therefore calling someone a socialist inoculates those people against supporting them. | ||
|Ed Brayton<ref name=EB /> | |Ed Brayton<ref name=EB /> | ||
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==Sources== | ==Sources== | ||
<references> | <references> | ||
Latest revision as of 21:24, 23 April 2015
[[category:myths|Barack Obama is a socialist; the Obama administration advocates socialist policies]]
| Myth: Barack Obama is a socialist; the Obama administration advocates socialist policies |
Myth
Examples
- "After eight years of Obama-style socialism, we need to shrink government." — George Pataki ad: "What Matters" - No Distractions! (video)
- "Obama is a disaster because he’s an unmitigated socialist..." — Ted Cruz[1]
Reality
You've got to be kidding me.
“
Look, there’s no reason for "socialism" to serve as a synonym for "stuff Republicans don't like." It’s an actual word with a fairly specific meaning, involving public ownership of the means of production.
And it in no way reflects the Obama era. After corporate profits reached all-time highs, the stock markets reached all-time highs, and the sharp drop in the unemployment rate was based almost entirely on private-sector job growth, I thought to myself, "Well, at least they’ll stop calling Obama a ‘socialist.’" But here we are anyway, hearing the same nonsense.
Have we considered the possibility that Republicans literally don't know what "socialism" means? Isn't it plausible that knee-jerk partisans have relied so heavily on the word for so long that they simply have lost track of its definition?
Cruz complained last year, "Right now, the top 1 percent in this country ... earn a higher share of our national income than any time since 1928." I'm curious: does the far-right senator believe those are economic conditions created by "an unmitigated socialist"? Or does Cruz believe the president is just really ineffective in implementing his socialist vision?
”
“
Socialism means the public ownership of the means of production. Does President Obama advocate that? Nope, he doesn’t. Has never suggested a single policy that would even hint at it. This is just an attempt to poison the well. The American public thinks socialists are evil and therefore calling someone a socialist inoculates those people against supporting them.
”
Sources
- ↑ 2015-04-21 Ted Cruz Says President Obama Is an 'Unmitigated Socialist'
- ↑ 2015-04-22 That’s not what 'socialism' means (Steve Benen)(via Google+)
- ↑ 2015-04-23 Cruz: President Obama an 'Unmitigated Socialist' (Ed Brayton)