Palin: More Socialist than Obama

From the mouth of the national director of the Democratic Socialists of America:

[O]ne player in the 2008 presidential elections...displayed more socialistic leanings than Obama. This candidate raised taxes on the big oil companies, and sent the revenue to the people. If you want to learn something about spreading the wealth, Llewellyn says, don't look to Obama. "To be honest, the most socialist candidate in the 2008 election was Sarah Palin."

The crux of the article is how Obama isn't really a socialist. Maybe by the definition of some. But one thing is for sure - they all hold the principle that your life is not yours. You are to live for the state, with your "rights" granted to you by your masters (Check out this fantastic post at 3 Ring Binder for an excellent breakdown of the difference between statism and a capitalism). See this oxymoronic statement from the CNN article:

Not all socialists, though, want to confiscate personal property. Democratic Socialists are more interested in protecting ordinary people from unregulated capitalism through regulation and progressive taxation. [emphasis mine]

And these statements certainly are true, regrettably:

Some of the socialist agenda is already part of American life, according to Wharton and others. Social Security, Medicare, unemployment benefits -- all reflect socialistic values, says Van Gosse, an associate professor of history at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who has researched socialist movements in the United States and Latin America. The widely accepted notions of public education and Pell Grants for college students are socialistic in origin, Gosse says. They fit well with the socialistic premise that government should provide basic security from the cradle to the grave to all of its citizens, he says. "We assert that education should not be left up to the private market -- where those who can pay, get it and those who can't, don't get it," Gosse says. "It's a common good and in that sense it is a socialistic institution even if the U.S. remains a capitalist nation."

The fact that most people don't make the connection and that these socialist programs are widely excepted doesn't make them any less evil. The above statment also makes the common error that the U.S. is a capitalist nation instead of the accurate description of mixed economy.

"Every time an expansion of the public's right [meaning a "right" to that which is produced by others, a perversion of the concept of rights ] has been put forward, Republicans have called it extreme, communistic and socialistic. It's a repeated tactic because they can't defeat the idea."

They can't defeat the idea because it is their essence as altruists. Replacing "society" with "God" doesn't change that fact.