Billy Wharton: "Obama's No Socialist. I Should Know."

[Mesogen]

Interesting Op Ed in the Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/13/AR2009031301899.html


The funny thing is, of course, that socialists know that Barack Obama is not one of us. Not only is he not a socialist, he may in fact not even be a liberal. Socialists understand him more as a hedge-fund Democrat -- one of a generation of neoliberal politicians firmly committed to free-market policies.

The first clear indication that Obama is not, in fact, a socialist, is the way his administration is avoiding structural changes to the financial system. Nationalization is simply not in the playbook of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and his team. They favor costly, temporary measures that can easily be dismantled should the economy stabilize. Socialists support nationalization and see it as a means of creating a banking system that acts like a highly regulated public utility. The banks would then cease to be sinkholes for public funds or financial versions of casinos and would become essential to reenergizing productive sectors of the economy.

The same holds true for health care. A national health insurance system as embodied in the single-payer health plan reintroduced in legislation this year by Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), makes perfect sense to us. That bill would provide comprehensive coverage, offer a full range of choice of doctors and services and eliminate the primary cause of personal bankruptcy -- health-care bills. Obama's plan would do the opposite. By mandating that every person be insured, ObamaCare would give private health insurance companies license to systematically underinsure policyholders while cashing in on the moral currency of universal coverage. If Obama is a socialist, then on health care, he's doing a fairly good job of concealing it.

Basically what he's saying is that he likes some Democrats because they want to do things that true socialists want to do. But Barack Obama is a corporate puppet.

Ok, big news, but it was interesting to hear it from the horse's mouth.

[Feenix566]

The basic fundamental principle of socialism is the lack of recognition of property rights. In that area, Obama's doing pretty well. He's already failed to recognize over a trillion dollars worth of property rights.

Of course, by that definition, all politicians are socialists. And that may be so. But very few politicians rise to the level of collectivism of Billy Wharton.

The fact of the matter is that most politicians are neither libertarian nor socialist. They're all just corrupt. The ideology they espouse is not based on principles; it is derived for the purpose of rationalizing what they already wanted to do anyway, which is take money from taxpayers and give it to their buddies. Obama is no different from the rest of them.

[Xenophage]

Socialists can disagree on policy. Not all Socialists believe in exterminating the Jews and building genetically engineered super soldiers with jet-packs and summoning Hell on earth using arcane rituals, for instance, but the coolest Socialists did! That's why some Socialists end up in video games, and other Socialists, like Billy Wharton, just end up writing boring editorials.


I think Billy Wharton needs to be introduced to my chaingun!

[Brassmouth]

The media whirlwind began in October with a call from a New York Times writer. He wanted a tour of the Socialist Party USA's national office.

Why am I not surprised?

[angelatc]

Did you catch the Ron Paul reference?


Orlando, Fla.: Is the Federal Reserve a threat to the citizenry and perhaps, government itself?

Billy Wharton: No, I think that Ron Paul may be a bigger threat to the citizenry than the Federal Reserve.