No googling please! "The necessaries of life occasion the great expense of the poor . . . The luxuries and vanities of life occasion the prinicpal expense of the rich, and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the best advantage all the ohter luxuries and vanities which they possess . . . It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but in something more than in that proporion."
I don't know too many people that disagree much with the sentiment as written, but remember that the author was writing during the collapse of feudalism, where the wealthiest received all the taxes, and the poorest paid much of them. Then the wealthy handed out favors to the poor. The wealthy paying as much as the poor was a radical idea.
Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and the creation of an egalitarian society. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism Obama is not promoting state or collective ownership of industries, nor of state administration of the means of production and distribution of goods. He is asking for the rich to pay their fair share. Deal with it, he will be your president-elect in 11 days. I expect you to support him just as you have called for everyone to support GWB.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/socialism Main Entry: so·cial·ism Listen to the pronunciation of socialism Pronunciation: \ˈsō-shə-ˌli-zəm\ Function: noun Date: 1837 1: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods2 a: a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b: a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state3: a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done Definitions 1 and 3 are most appropriate in our country's case. Definition 2 is coming. Socialism is the BRIDGE between capitalism and communism. Wake up!
If you read the full quote, it is in the context of taxation on housing rents. It's the wealthy paying more than the poor, not as much. Anyway - is it your opinion that a progressive income tax system is a "socialist" idea? Not accusing you in particular of bearing that cross - I'm just trying to highlight the lack of understanding of what socialism is that a lot of people have (see IROC it's posts)
State ownership of the means of production and control of their distribution. I've actually read Marx. If you can tell me which industries Obama wants to collectivize, I'm all ears. I wish he would do so with healthcare, but nobody is a perfect candidate.
Whatever you want to call it, in 11 days, it'll be our President-elect. If you're so scared of "socialism", maybe you should direct your wrath at our current President and the joke of a campaign being run by McCain/Palin.
Healthcare is the FIRST example. Try retirement pensions and 401k's next, re-administered and redistributed through social security... as Argentina has been trying... If you control people's retirement money, you control their production as well. It's back door socialism.. which by definition is the BRIDGE to communism, from capitalism. The true bridge to nowhere. Even traditionally communist countries have been shedding some of these ideas in favor of more open capitalism in their markets... why are we not seeing that? It's easy for the rich to say the rich need to help more... I by no means whatsoever am in that category, yet if the changes take place in retirement funds and healthcare, I never be able to be, even if I work harder. A good slap on the back and a "good job, comrade" won't be worth the extra effort. And THAT is why socialism always leads to failure in the overall morale of a nation. The plans for the bridge are being drawn up... the bridge is shaky... when the government fails the experiment of taking over these industries of healthcare and finance, and bankrupts them while doing so, the next step is currency failure, and then everyone is at zero - equal - communal - communism... and we all know how well that works out. The rich stay rich and they rule the people. Marx had great insight, but we all know that it's only great on paper. No Marxist regime has ever been pure... absolutely 100% have been corrupt. To think that those days cannot repeat themselves is to enjoy ignorance. History is only "his story" as long as learn from it. Don't cross the bridge... don't take this so lightly.
IROC IT, do you not like the idea of public schools? Is there a reason you subsitute informed critique of Obama's policy positions with insane rants about economic systems that bear very little resemblence to our own?
Are you saying that every industrialized nation in the world has a failure of overall morale? Or some have not gotten there yet? I am confused.
so what is this? LOL "The issue came to the fore this summer when the U.S. General Accounting Office predicted Iraq could finish the year with as much as a $79 billion cumulative surplus because of oil revenues and unspent funds from previous budgets. The August report drew outrage in Congress, where lawmakers asked why the Iraqis haven't spent more of their own money on reconstruction efforts while U.S. taxpayers shell out some $12 billion a month for Iraq"
When did socialism become such a dirty word in US politics? I'm curious how that came about. And Obama is no more a socialist than Bill Clinton was.