I must know what you think of this article...
Over the past few months, Matthew and I have been surprised no one has connected Obama with socialism, because it seemed to both of us, that he was advocating some fairly socialist ideas. This article focuses mostly on the tax issue, and what I believe was a "slip of the tongue" when Obama spoke with Joe the Plumber.
What do you think? Is it a problem to have Obama's stated purpose for tax dollars as "spreading the wealth," rather than funding government programs?
Here's an article about Obama's defense on this issue.
To me, he doesn't appear to have any concretes. After reading the article, I was none the wiser, and didn't find anything in his statements that would convince me he's not trending toward socialism.
What do you think?
3 comments:
Well, one problem with Obama's argument is that taxes were higher under Clinton than under Bush. Moreover, scripture talks about holding everything in common, but it doesn't talk about communism. It seems more appropriate to say that early Christians held everything with an open hand-ready to give it to those in need. I still see that happening.
When I hear about "spreading the wealth" it seems to me that what people really want who advocate for this is to let go of their own responsibility to the poor, and to just hand over money to the government so they can feel better without actually having to interact with folks.
Also, the demonization of working hard and earning a lot of money is somewhat ridiculous. I mean, why on earth are you less entitled to keeping money you've earned than someone who hasn't worked for it?
You may be interested in this: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/10/22/wilkinson/
It's by a guy from the CATO institute, which is conservative/libertarian, and came from Marketplace, which is an NPR show that seems to be fairly balanced as far as perspectives go.
That link didn't work, I suspect because some of it was cut off by this stupidly formatted comments section, but I think I found the article. Go to Marketplace.publicradio.org, and search "All tax plans are wealth redistribution."
I read it, and I see the logic and the truth, yet I don't totally agree that funding government programs with an interest toward protecting the American people is "spreading the wealth."
I definitely see how taxation in general is, in a broad way, redistributing money. However, for the most part, the government is collecting money from the people to PAY companies and people for services they provide us. It fuels the market, and supports capitalism.
I take issue with Obama's admission that his motive is to "spread the wealth," as opposed to a motive like, say, "funding government programs." I think it's more the attitude of taking from the wealthy to give to the poor (deserving or undeserving) with which I disagree, because we're supposed to be a capitalist society.
Does anyone else see this distinction?
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