Recent Comments on Socialism

Here's a comment I posted to the Seeking Alpha Blog, in response to another author's comment that appears to conflate Socialism with Fascism:

"I like most of your ideas, Oldfoxbob, and ironically most of your ideas like making the rich pay more in taxes, giving welfare to the poor, extending unemployment benefits and creating jobs with government projects are things Democrats want and they are all things the right calls Socialism, and many of these ideas are present in Socialist countries. 

The problem is that Fox News and the GOP have succeeded in brainwashing average Americans into equating ANY government project with Socialism and making you think that Fascism = Socialism, when in fact they are not equal. What we have had in the US since the mid-19th century is a mixed economy that combines public and private enterprise.

Just as we have for 150 years, the US has a market-based economy, we enjoy all our democratic freedoms AND we have strong government programs. But, as long as the Republicans and Fox News continue to perpetuate the myth that sensible, Keynesian economic policies like you advocate are part of a slippery slope to "Socialism" (meaning fascism with no democratic freedom as opposed to the real meaning, which is a government that protects the poor from being exploited by the rich) then we will never get the change that most average Americans including you and me actually want. 

Your fear of immigrants and demand for "English-only" is an important part of the problem. Who wants to pay their fair-share of taxes if you are also afraid that your money is going to help people like "welfare queens" even though they represent an incredibly small percentage of users of our safety nets?"

If "Oldfoxbob" is indicative of many Americans, it confirms Michael Moore's hypothesis that the vast majority of American's want the policies of Democrats, but are afraid to vote for them....in the case of "Oldfoxbob", apparently because they are also afraid of a diverse America.

The Kucinich Amendment

State-backed (ie California, not Federal) single-payer is not Totalitarian Socialist health care, much as Fox News would have you believe. Evidence is mounting that even with a public option, there will be little pressure on insurance companies to lower rates.

I support the Kucinich Amendment. State-backed single-payer initiatives like they have in Massachusetts appear to be the best way to bring costs under control. Private insurance companies can still offer their plans and supplemental services. You can opt-out and buy the "private option," (much as we have single-payer public education and you can opt-out for private schools), which disproves fear-mongering right-wingers' assertions that private industry will disappear from America as liberal, well-educated elites attempt to implement a state-controlled, Marxist economic system via Emperor Obama's iron-fisted rule!

Obama's Southern Problem

A poll from last summer shows the geographic distribution of US citizens who believe Obama is a US citizen. The fact that more than half of the people who live in the South do not believe President Obama is a US Citizen also explains why Harry Reid is having such a hard time getting a health care bill through the Senate. It's not a mere coincidence that Democratic Senators from Arkansas and Florida are giving Reid such a hard time while their states are chocked full of Obama-is-not-a-citizen believing denizens. Perhaps the Administration needs to do a better job getting copies of the birth certificate posted throughout shopping malls of the south, maybe a road-show where they display the actual birth certificate in a Pope-mobile style trailer. If such a large percentage of US citizens do not believe their President or their government is legitimate, the harder it will be to pass any legislation that establishes new government programs, even if the vast majority of Americans want public works and public options as we do with health care.

Documentary on 9/12 Tea Party Protests in DC

There is a lot of fear underlying the emotion that is driving these protests. How can we create a compelling counter-weight to Fox News, which will help these people become more relaxed?

Please visit www.youtube.com/user/NewLeftMedia ...

Racist Underbelly of Anti-Health Care Movement Rears Its Ugly Head

In her most recent New York Times column, Maureen Dowd calls South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson a racist. In his interview with Fox News yesterday, Wilson defended himself as non-racist by saying that his family is from the next town over from Michelle Obama's family in South Carolina. He said that is why he has "great respect for the Obama family." Why? Because her ancestors used to be his ancestors' slaves? Because he actually has something in common with her, even though she's black?

Wilson's commitment to the Old South is further displayed when he says that he was not wrong to call Obama a liar. Wilson said that although the House bill specified that health benefits are intended only for US citizens, because the bill did not contain ID verification provisions, the language was meaningless, implying that Obama and Democrats secretly intend to offer public health care to illegal immigrants. This is an absurd leap, similar to most of the lies and claims being hurled by the exteme Right at health care reform.

Wilson should be rebuked at every level. And so should Republican politicians who stoke the claims of Birthers, Palin and other liars about health care reform. I agree with Dowd: the false assertions about the bill including Wilson's outburst are racially motivated. Whether it is Tea Party anti-government rhetoric, Birthers' lies or Palin's "death panels" the point is the same as it was 30 years ago when Lee Atwater and the RNC devised their Southern Strategy: promote low taxes and smaller government as a way to deprive "welfare queens" and other minorities of their uppity new laws and benefits -- a policy and agenda that exploits the racist hatred of mostly poorer, southern white Americans and lines the pockets of industrial titans who benefited from the largest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind: a transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to the richest 1% in America.

Obama should start work on a new speech as a follow-up to last week's fine presentation on health care and to his first race speech last year. If Obama can marginalize the racists instead of letting them dominate the debate, perhaps he stands a chance of getting health care reform passed. By continuing to attack the lies and hatred of the extreme Right, we might finally enjoy policies that are in the public interest. Policies that balance markets and government for the benefit of a majority, instead of the Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush era policies that mainly helped the privileged few.

When Terror Alerts = Lies

Tom Ridge revealed today that terror alerts were used to manipulate public opinion during the 2004 presidential election. In his 2004 presidential bid, Dennis Kucinich often spoke of the terror alerts and how they were used by the Bush administration to raise fear and keep people in line. Mainstream media dismissed Kucinich and the Left as knee-jerk Bush-haters, and so their suspicions and claims were never taken seriously. Now they are vindicated and the fact that Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush were pulling the levers of terror-alerts to control the voting fingers of Americans comes as no surprise to many of us.

This is lying. These were lies told by the President and his men to manipulate public opinion. Raising a terror alert based on 3 to 4-year old information, just because you recently received the information is the same as telling a lie. You are saying it is new information, when you know the truth is that it is old information.

And there is a precedent to their lies. The summary execution of suspected terrorists by Predator drone missiles on the eve of the 2002 mid-term elections was the first picture I had seen that year that provided any evidence of success in the new "War on Terror." I found it odd that a picture of a decimated terrorist's car should appear on the front page of the LA Times the day before the election. With Ridge's revelations today, it appears we have a pattern of this kind of behavior to sway public opinion. How can we sway it the other way, with hope instead of fear?

On Health Care Reform: An Open Letter to my Congressman, the Honorable Edward R. Royce (R-Ca)

To the Honorable Edward R. Royce:

I recently read your Investor's Business Daily column, which advocates against the public insurance option at the center of the health care reform legislation currently before Congress. While I agree with you that market-based solutions are usually best, I think we have to face the fact that health care is one marketplace that is not best served by the private sector.

Your column overstates the current health care reform legislation as yet another attempt to create a "politically controlled economy." The financial and automotive industry bailouts were necessary corrections, but they hardly represent attempts to create a socialist state, as your column implies.

I also disagree with your assessment that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are examples of the failure of government backed institutions. While Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac certainly played a role in the current financial crisis, private mortgage lenders, and their "creative" financing and payment options for subprime loans, drove the housing bubble while lending by the government sponsored enterprises contracted. In fact, while the credit bubble was peaking from 2003 to 2006, the amount of loans originated by Fannie and Freddie dropped from $2.7 trillion to $1 trillion. Meanwhile, in the private sector, the amount of subprime loans originated jumped to $600 billion from $335 billion and Alt-A loans hit $400 billion from $85 billion in 2003. If anything, the strict regulation imposed on Fannie and Freddie as a result of their government sponsorship prevented them from getting into the trouble or levels of leverage taken on by purely private lenders.

Like you, I agree that market-based solutions are often best for the vast majority of industries like aerospace, automotive, travel, advertising, clothing, agriculture, software, technology, housing and just about everything else. The American way is competitive capitalism. But the delivery of affordable, quality healthcare to all Americans is clearly undermined by the huge administrative costs and profit-taking of the insurance industry.

I urge you to vote in favor of the health care reform bill currently before Congress.

Thank you,
Eric Forst