Why Obama is no socialist by Steven Strauss
Obama's no socialist. Socialism is a not-for-profit economic system under workers' control, whose purpose is to meet the needs of the majority of people. Everyone shares the abundance they produce. Decisions are made democratically, through genuine participation from the producers. The new U.S. president would be the first to agree this is not what he stands for. In this time of economic crisis, Obama's job is to rescue the profit system. He calls for "more competitive" U.S. corporations. In other words, autoworkers and others should give up even more of their pensions, wages, health insurance and retiree benefits, in order to be "competitive" with anti-union, low-wage companies at home and abroad. Obama's economists find billions of taxpayer's dollars to bail out the bankers and brokers, but have no plan to provide universal employment and retirement security. His healthcare plan is the same as today's — profit-based for the welfare of insurance companies. He is silent on the racist U.S. justice system, and on Mumia Abu-Jamal, the radical Black journalist framed for murder during the Reagan era. Obama wants to leave 50,000 U.S. troops in oil-rich Iraq and expand military operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. What socialism is not. Socialist-haters and skeptics typically proclaim that: • Socialism is big government — by definition inefficient and invasive. • Socialism's aim is to "redistribute" the wealth, by stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. • Socialism leads to widespread loss of democracy and personal liberty. • Socialism is impossible because it's against "me-first" human nature. This is not what socialists stand for. The big government myth. Capitalist politicians, whether Republican or Democrat, have no problem with "big government." Their trillion-dollar war budgets and bank bailouts are as big as it gets. The real question isn't size. It's whose side is the government on? A socialist government takes the side of working people, and stands with everyone assaulted by racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and bigotry of any kind. A socialist government's job is to create full employment by building excellent schools and hospitals, safe and efficient public transportation, affordable and comfortable housing, and inventive cultural and recreational facilities. In a socialist society, there would be no corporations destroying the environment for profit. Labor saving technology would reduce the workday, not the standard of living. A socialist government, because it does not depend on profit to exist, would never turn off anybody's gas and electricity, tolerate homelessness and hunger, or deny medical care for lack of insurance. This advanced way of life has not yet been realized anywhere Redistribution of wealth. All social wealth is created by working people. But capitalists own the giant factories, mines, farms, banks, and transportation and communication systems. So after wageworkers produce cars, food, buildings, and computers, owners take possession of them, sell the products on the market, and pocket the income. The owners and CEOs then pay workers as little as they can get away with. What they call their legitimate profit is produced entirely by the workers. According to the AFL-CIO, Bank of America's "CEO Kenneth Lewis collected nearly $10 million in 2008, more than 400 times the average amount a bank teller is paid each year." Socialists call for returning this stolen wealth to the producers. Thus, it is the capitalist class that "redistributes" the wealth, away from those who produced it, to the parasites who didn't. The question of liberty. Capitalism is built on the denial of liberty to the majority of human beings — working people. This begins in the workplace itself, where wage earners are told what to do by a management they never voted for, and which certainly does not represent their interests. This profit-driven economic dictatorship is the reason bosses have employed barely-paid six-year-olds to work nearly 20 hours a day. It's why we have forced overtime, speedup, and poverty wages for women, people of color and immigrants. It's why bosses dump their toxic wastes in rivers and lakes, just so many toilet bowls to them. In a socialist economy, the working class will determine, from the workplace on up, what needs to be produced and how to fairly distribute it. Economic plans will be proposed, debated, carried out, critiqued, and improved. This is economic democracy. Had it been in place, the levees in New Orleans would have been repaired long before Hurricane Katrina hit! It was in place in the early days of the Russian Revolution, when workers' councils (soviets) made decisions about working conditions. Cuba has one of the world's most advanced healthcare systems precisely because the Cuban majority demand that their medical needs be met, and no private healthcare profiteers can stand in the way. Is human nature innately selfish? Capitalist apologists say that socialism can't work because it flies in the face of human nature. People are inherently greedy, selfish, and downright nasty. To think that human beings are biologically incapable of creating a world without wars, poverty, and bigotry must make one wonder where such genes came from. Perhaps we are all mutants, since anthropologists have long pointed out that the earliest of human societies were communal, generally peaceful, and shared all they had. Try asking yourself this question: Am I basically hungry for money, self-indulgent, and insensitive to the suffering of others? Or do I want friendship, loving relationships, and to contribute to the common good? Money lust and egotism appear normal only in the world of big business. Outside that, U.S. workers are exceptionally generous, giving what little they have to a variety of "good causes." People march to raise funds for cancer and AIDS. Neighbors help each other through earthquakes, hurricanes and tornadoes. This is called solidarity. And that's what is inherent in human nature, emerging spontaneously every day, everywhere. Socialism thrives on it. As pioneer socialist feminist Clara Fraser said in the dedication of her book Revolution She Wrote, "the act of fighting injustice is full of hope and joy when it is viewed as a slice of an innate historical tradition, an ancient reaching out for universal human fulfillment." Americans display solidarity with each stand against U.S. wars. Solidarity built the unions, and fueled victories in the civil rights, feminist, and gay rights movements. Imagine a world where all children can discover and develop their talents, where free and critical thinking is applauded, where all the sick receive humane care, where the planet and all its inhabitants are not choked, but thrive. That's what socialists stand for. And what we fight for. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
