Friday, February 27, 2009

Some Thoughts on Republicans, Obama, Socialism and Class Warfare

I hope Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin are the future of the Republican Party. We can look forward to 8 years of President Barack Obama. Eight years will not be enough, however, to undo the mess George W. Bush and the GOP have left our country in. Why can’t Republicans learn anything from history? The party of Herbert Hoover still blames FDR for the Republican Great Depression, and wants to repeat the same policies that have now created another Republican depression.

My problem with Obama is that he doesn’t go far enough. Like most Democrats, he recognizes the problems created by the corporate rich, but he doesn’t want to seriously challenge their power or wealth. We need a real redistribution of wealth, from the corporate rich to the working class. That is democratic socialism. Instead of “reforming” healthcare, we need a single-payer public universal health insurance program like most industrial countries.

Letting the Bush tax cuts expire on those making over $250,000 is not enough, we need to take back the Reagan tax cuts on the rich and return to the tax rate of Dwight Eisenhower, the great “socialist” who warned us about the greed of the “military-industrial complex.” I wish Obama would follow the example of FDR and publicly denounce the “economic royalists” who have slashed wages for workers while rewarding themselves with lavish million dollar “bonuses.” Of course, Republicans will accuse progressives who criticize CEO’s making 500 times the average wage of their workers of waging “class warfare.” Isn’t that kind of like accusing slaves of slavery?

1 comment:

Billy Wharton said...

Hi. Good post. I think also that we need to consider not only that Obama can do more. Really, I hope people come to the realization that there are limits to what the federal government can do. In other words, large parts of Obama's stimulus plan, particularly the tax cuts part, flush federal money down the toilet. At some point the international financiers who buy up the government bonds to finance this spending will say, "enough" and will refuse to purchase more debt. Then what????

Acting quickly on issues such as bank nationalization, HR 676 and the EFCA will go a long way towards beginning the economic reorganization of the country. The time to act is now. I am sure though, that the "hedge-fund" Democrats in the Treasury Dept. will try to do anything but act. We need serious movement at the grassroots.

All the best,

Billy