Obama The Closet Marxist
by lizard
Rob Natelson has a new post up at ECW, titled Is Obama A Closet Marxist?. It’s simply amazing.
The post stems from a comment Rob made on Budge’s post about why Libertarians should reject Ron Paul. When a commenter said the following:
“Quite honestly I have come to believe that whoever wins elections has very little effect on what happens to the general public”
Rob replied with this:
— that is generally, but not always, true. We need institutional change more than a change in particular politicians. But sometimes an outlier like Obama can effect significant change. So if the difference is between, say, a Kerry and a Bush it probably doesn’t matter hugely—Kerry would be more liberal, but the GOP would push back harder. But when you elect someone who, if not a closet Marxist certainly acts like one, that does make a difference. If we don’t get a new President in 2012, institutional change becomes that much more difficult.
Dumbfounded that a former university professor could make such a ridiculous claim about our president, I asked the professor what he based his assertion on. I didn’t really expect Rob to answer, but he proved me wrong and put up this list of evidence that Obama is a closet Marxist. Check it out:
* Nationalization of companies and functions (GM, student loans, etc.).
* Attempted government takeover of health care (and he wanted a socialized insurance company, the “public option,” as well).
* Heavy government “investment” in favored parts of the economy (Solyndra, for example).
* Expansion of federal spending to peacetime heights—with more requested.
* Huge expansion of the regulatory state.
* Campaigns as a classic anti-capitalist class warrior, railing against “Wall Street” and “the wealthy.”
* Seeks far more graduated income tax.
* Fixation on promoting labor unions as political as well as economic forces.
* After purportedly being against it, wants power to lock people up without habeas corpus.
* Father a genuine, professed Marxist.
* Admits in his bio being influenced by Marxists as a youth.
* Describes feeling during his brief time in the private sector as “a spy behind enemy lines.”
* Associates with Marxists like Bill Ayers and the “liberation theology” crowd.
I’m sort of at a loss how to respond. Luckily others aren’t, and there are already some good comments countering Rob’s assertion, especially Ryan Morton’s response.
Really, I think it’s sad that Rob is willing to contribute such slop to the political conversations raging across the country. These erroneously-spun Marxist tendencies supposedly exhibited by our President have more to do with crony capitalism, corporate welfare, and the revolving door between government and the private sector than “Marxism”.
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January 4, 2012 at 8:45 pm
From the Doug Ross Journal 9/29/10.
According to Karl Marx, the following ten elements were requisite conditions for “a transition from capitalism to communism.”
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. Washington Examiner: The great Obama land grab: “White House officials have been meeting quietly with environmental groups to map out government plans for acquiring untold millions of acres of both public and private land… The federal government, as the memo boasted, is the nation’s ‘largest land manager.’ It already owns roughly one of every three acres in the United States… This is apparently not enough.”
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. National Taxpayer Union: The top 1% of taxpayers already pay 40% of all income taxes. The top 5% pay 61% of all income taxes. And the top 25% pay 87%. The bottom 50% pay 3% of all income taxes.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance. USA Today: “Estate tax to return in 2011, and it could hurt ordinary folks.”
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants [those leaving the country] and rebels. New York Post: The President’s new jobs-killer: “…President Obama explicitly targeted the industry for two massive tax hikes. First, he’d ban oil and gas companies from using the ‘Section 199’ tax credit, a measure for domestic manufacturers enacted in 2004 to boost US employment… Second, he wants to end ‘dual capacity’ protection for US energy firms… Without this shield against double taxation on foreign revenues, American companies would be competing on an uneven global playing field… Yet, by the federal government’s own economic model, these tax hikes would lead to huge, immediate job losses.”
5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. New York Post: Democrats, Fannie Mae still issuing subprime loans, even after meltdown. And CNS News: Obama to Nationalize Student Lending with Pending Budget Bill.
6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State. Tom’s Hardware: “Bill Allows Obama Power to Shut Down Internet.” And “Advertisers on talk radio targeted by Congressional investigations.” And “In an exclusive interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, President Obama made the extraordinary claim that Fox News is ‘destructive to [America’s] long-term growth.’.”
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. National Legal and Policy Center: “Obama Arranges Takeover of GM and Chrysler; Auto Workers Union Gets Huge Stake.” And Discover: “New EPA Rules Clamp Down on Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining.” And News 9 Oklahoma: “EPA to Crack Down on Farm Dust.”
8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. Wall Street Journal: “SEIU’s Stern Tops White House Visitor List.” And The Blaze: “Obama’s OFA, Churches Join Democratic Socialists for Saturday March in Washington.”
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of the population over the country. Heritage: “The Clean Water Restoration Act Means Troubled Waters For Property Owners”: “…The Waxman-Markey global warming bill is far and away the most worrisome environmental measure currently working its way through Congress, but it is certainly not the only cause for concern… S. 787, the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA)… would do much more harm than good, especially for farmers, ranchers, developers, energy producers, and other property owners.”
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.: New York Sun: “Obama Tells Teachers Union He Opposes Vouchers.” And Big Hollywood: “[Teachers’ Union] NEA: Obama’s Ministry of Propaganda.”
January 5, 2012 at 8:28 am
Plus if i was a “closet Marxist” I wouldn’t want any evidence course work or classes taken articles written for the public to review.
Let me see.
1. Occidental College records and transcripts — Not released
2. Columbia University records and transcripts — Not released
3. Columbia Thesis paper — ‘not available’
January 5, 2012 at 9:53 am
there are also people who think Obama was recruited early on by the CIA, and that he’s a pawn of the global elite.
January 5, 2012 at 10:05 am
Not so fast Comrade Liz.
You can eventually get CIA records.
January 5, 2012 at 10:56 am
Having a conservative blogger talk about Marx as “evidence” is pretty lame.
Having said that, I think the following – in reverse order just to keep things interesting:
10. Free education? Yes, please.
9. Equitable distribution of the population? It won’t happen, but it’s an interesting idea.
8. Everything we consume was created from labor, so liability to labor makes sense.
7.I liked the part about the improvement of the soil. Government sponsored industry is ok too.
6. Um, have you heard of public roadways? Communication? I don’t think the state needs to control all of this and President Obama did not shut down the internet. That gave me a good laugh.
5. We’ve had a Federal Reserve Bank for a while. President Obama didn’t create it. Student loans were already government subsidized loans. Same with Freddie and Fannie – why do people think Obama is responsible for what happened with them? It’s really silly and intellectually dishonest.
4. Oil and gas are neither emigrants or rebels – though I don’t know if Marx’s prescriptions about property are correct.
3. Inheritance in the time of Marx versus today would have very different meanings – though I think losing money you didn’t earn in the first place isn’t devastating.
2. Progressive taxes? Yes, please. Also, a communist utopia would require taxes.
1. Public ownership of land has pros and cons. I think public ownership should occur for items that suffer from market failure. I don’t think President Obama thinks anything that goes beyond that. Environmental protection and land management (as noted by the conservative blogger) aren’t Marxist ideas though.
So, I think it’s cute when conservative thinkers use Marx to try and scare people into disliking stuff. I get a bit defensive when the tactic is used to sling mud at a person – but I suppose it’s the best desperate act we can expect when conservative America hates Obama but can’t find an adequate replacement.
January 5, 2012 at 10:58 am
Typo: On number 2, a communist utopia would NOT require taxes… it would be anarchy. Gotta work on my quality control.
January 5, 2012 at 12:30 pm
You guys won the mud slinging Olympics.
But let’s see how far we come. The immediate respond if this label was tossed after his coronation would be, “you’re a racist”.
At least that card game has fallen on deaf ears.
January 5, 2012 at 12:40 pm
Speaking of racists, anybody else see this?
http://www.3news.co.nz/Martin-Luther-King-Jr-told-racial-jokes/tabid/418/articleID/238203/Default.aspx
January 5, 2012 at 12:55 pm
When did “you’re a racist” become part of this discussion? Well, ok. I guess you probably are a racist. Satisfied?
January 5, 2012 at 1:26 pm
When slinging was brought up.
January 5, 2012 at 1:51 pm
What Marx and Engels called classless ‘primitive communism’ no longer exists. It’s all state-enforced class culture now. One class rules.
The ruling class created the state to protect itself by supressing adversaries — violently is other methods fail. Class society based on the private ownership of the means of producing wealth began in the mid-1600s against the existing feudal state. The new state would serve their own capitalist, class interests. Eventually this formed the new ruling capitalist class of today.
If Obama is a Marxist, he is a capitalist, ruling class Marxist, and full-blown statist. Or is he a “globalist-ruling class-capitalist?” The adversaries he supresses most are definitely not of the ruling class. This is where the label makes no sense. Labels are meaningless in today’s minestrone world of double-speak, new-speak, and ordinary lies. What is the point?
January 5, 2012 at 3:16 pm
Please keep in mind that Natelson is now a bought-and-paid-for shill for the Independence Institute. This libertarian think tank is funded by extreme-right industrialists, although the connections are murky because it bills itself as a 501(c)(3) and doesn’t have to list its donors. It also bills itself as an “action tank,” meaning it litigates, trains activists, works on ballot initiatives, and does new media and investigative reporting (paraphrasing from its website).
Natelson gets paid to spew this garbage.
January 5, 2012 at 11:25 pm
Not that Natelson ever had a problem spewing this garbage when he worked for the state.
January 5, 2012 at 3:57 pm
He is a very intelligent guy but I think most people would agree that Bobby is nutty and enjoys saying and writing nutty thinngs. Moving the far right goal posts as far into nuttiness as he can. Its kind of his shtick at this point and as Pete Talbot says he gets paid to do it.
January 5, 2012 at 5:05 pm
Short term memory loss does have it’s advantages.
January 7, 2012 at 6:35 am
I should thank Rob for putting out there the notion that Obama is part of a secret Marxist conspiracy (Pogo, are you gonna go ridicule Rob at ECW?) because I did a little non-vigorous online research and discovered a person who supposedly influenced Barack when he was a teen—a communist poet by the name of Frank Marshall Davis.
naturally I found a book of Davis’ poetry, and it’s being shipped to me as I write this, so in a few weeks I will feature Davis’ poetry, doing my part to further this vast Marxist conspiracy that Pogie mentioned is of serious interest for local Montana Republicans like Joe Read
(Pogo, are you going to stop in at Intelligent Discontent and ridicule your fellow Republicans about their conspiracy theory regarding the UN take over of local municipalities?).
so thanks Rob! keep up the kookiness.
January 11, 2012 at 9:33 pm
Since the term “conspiracy theorist” implies belief in at least 2 or more conspiracies, I have an arbitrary policy of only referring to people as “conspiracy theorists” when they reach a minimum quota of 4 or more major conspiracies. At last count, you claimed ownership in at least 7 (that I know about) of the more popular conspiracy theories. Want me to recap them for you, Lizard?
January 11, 2012 at 9:50 pm
weak. try again. and please include aliens.
January 11, 2012 at 10:05 pm
Sure, here you go:
Lizard’s Top Confirmed Conspiracy Theories
1. Aliens in Area 51 (Yes – “aliens, sure, why not”)
2. Bin Laden died in 2001 and is buried in Tora Bora (Yes – “it isn’t moon-landing fringe”)
3. JFK Kennedy Assassination (Yes)
4. Diebold computers rigged the 2004 Elections (Yes)
5. 9/11 World Trade Center Cover-UP and US Government involvement (Yes)
6. John P. Wheeler III and the Neo-Con Murder Conspiracy (Yes)
7. The government helped transform Ted Kaszynski into the Unibomber. (Yes)
“pogo, that list of yours is not something i’m going to shrink away from. . .” Lizard – January 23, 2011 https://4and20blackbirds.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/montana-blowback/
January 9, 2012 at 8:52 pm
Spread the wealth around.
January 10, 2012 at 10:26 am
Romney’s a Nazi, Romney’s a Nazi, Romney’s a Nazi.
Not really. Not any more than Obama’s a Marxist.
But I guess if you say it enough times people will start to believe it. At least stupid people will start to believe it.
January 10, 2012 at 3:51 pm
“Stupid”?
Or the great undecided?
January 10, 2012 at 5:25 pm
I’d go with “stupid.”
January 10, 2012 at 1:34 pm
I believe the professors point is that Obama is no moderate. His entire 08 campaign was run on exactly that point-the closet Marxist comment is a rhetorical device to get attention–seems to me like it worked quite well as you all te promoting Natelson’s post…
January 11, 2012 at 1:22 am
Pete, I think your point has just been made quite succinctly.