S.O.S -- Stop Obama's Socialism

Yesterday, Glenn Beck devoted his entire one-hour television program to the question of whether or not the president of the United States is a socialist. Due to time constraints, Beck couldn’t cover everything. (If you missed the show, you can watch the introduction here.) But there is a lot of ground to cover, and a few of the things he left out last night are perhaps more illustrative of the president’s ideology. So, today I wanted to fill in a few gaps.

How do you know whether someone is a Democrat, Republican, independent or socialist? You can infer it from their values and policies, but often they’ll tell you if asked. While Obama may not like to admit it today, he once publicly affiliated with a socialist political party in Chicago. • An August 1996 article in New Ground, a publication of the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America, makes it clear that Obama was seeking the support of the New Party, which was joined at the hip with ACORN: “Barack Obama, victor in the 13th State Senate District, encouraged NPers to join in his task forces on Voter Education and Voter Registration.”

Here’s more. A November 1996 editorial in the leftwing Progressive Populist states, “New Party member Barack Obama was uncontested for a State Senate seat from Chicago.” Yes, Obama ran as a Democrat, but he sought support from leftwing fringe groups like the New Party, which claimed him as a member.

With a willing affiliation established (not just speculation by critics), the obvious question is “Has he acted on it?” Let’s consider his two biggest policy initiatives: Cap and trade and healthcare “reform.” • Here’s how the New York Times described Obama’s cap-and-trade tax scheme last year: “On energy policy, Mr. Obama’s budget will show new revenues … from his proposal to require companies to buy permits from the government for greenhouse gas emissions… the permits would raise up to $300 billion a year… Mr. Obama would have the government use most of the revenues for relief to families to offset higher utility bills and related expenses. The remaining revenues would cover his proposals for $15 billion a year in spending and tax incentives to develop alternative energy.”

If the goal was to raise $15 billion for alternative energy, why did Obama propose a tax 20 times larger? It has nothing to do with alternative energy, and everything to do with Obama’s plan to “spread the wealth around.” Once this massive new tax has been imposed on utility companies, Obama plans to redistribute “most of the revenues” back to families he deems worthy of “relief.” Obama’s cap and trade policy is first and foremost a socialist redistribution scheme. • Democrats were careful not to admit it during the debate, but ObamaCare is a huge step toward European-style socialism. But once Obama had signed healthcare “reform” into law, liberal lips loosened a lot. Writing at Townhall.com, Bryon York provides a number of quotes from leading Democrats demonstrating that for many the redistribution of wealth was a primary goal of healthcare “reform.”

For example, on March 23rd a New York Times economics columnist described ObamaCare as “the federal government’s biggest attack on economic inequality since inequality began rising more than three decades ago.” What happened three decades ago? Ronald Reagan began rolling back the confiscatory tax rates of the Carter era.

York also quotes an influential senator and a former chairman of the Democrat National Committee, among others. (You can read his column here.)

On his show last night, Beck repeatedly asked, “Does it matter if the president is a socialist?” It ought to matter if our elected leaders are deliberately deceiving us. More importantly, socialism is not what made America the world’s sole superpower. But socialism will threaten that status.

Here’s a final point I’d like to make. Many Christians, especially younger Christians, have bought into the notion of government-mandated “social justice.” They believe that the forced redistribution of wealth somehow completes Christ’s teachings. They couldn’t be more wrong.

Christ’s teachings were about our personal obligations to help the needy. Nowhere does Christ suggest that the brute force of Big Government should be used to take wealth from one group and give it those deemed more deserving. (Besides, liberals are always telling conservatives that we can’t legislative morality, so why are they trying to impose their morality on the rest of country through the tax laws?)

Charity fosters several important virtues: compassion, generosity and gratitude. Generous giving out of compassion for our fellow man acts as a check against greed. Compassion connects us to our family, friends, neighbors and even total strangers. That generosity fosters gratitude on the part of the recipient, who in turn is often inspired to help others.

In contrast, socialism crushes charity. High levels of taxation decrease disposable income, so folks inclined to give have less to give. If they are being taxed to support a welfare state, what is the incentive to give? Worse, government redistribution engenders a sense of entitlement (by those who are given what they have not earned), which leads to dependency. And the problem with socialism, as Margaret Thatcher once observed, is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.

This is a very important debate, my friends, because it is about the future of our great country – whether America will be a great country in the future. I hope this information is useful to you in communicating with friends and family members. But, more importantly, I hope it underscores just how critical it is that we win the elections 209 days from now.

Do you have our “S.O.S – Stop Obama’s Socialism” bumper sticker? What will you do to help elect pro-family, pro-life, pro-free enterprise conservatives to Congress?

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Glenn Beck has stated many times that we need another “George Washington”. Well, Glenn has awoken so many Americans up as to what’s being done to our country by the so-called “Democrats” that he HIMSELF is our new George Washington.. Thank you Glenn!

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