A lending hand

I was driving to pick up dinner for the family this evening. On my way, I caught the light on the main drag here in town and waited for the green. It's a bit cool this evening, but I have the window down a bit, because, well, I'm just weird like that. So as I'm listening to "Brown Sugar" on my iPod, I hear a voice say,

"You know, you're voting for a Socialist, right?"

"Sorry?" I said.

"You're voting for a Socialist if you vote for Obama."

(I guess he saw the Obama sticker on the back of my car.)

"And?" I said.

"Obama wants to 'spread the wealth.' He ain't using my money to help some lazy poor people!"

"You know that they already use our money to help those less fortunate than us, right?" I said.

"It ain't the same."

"Sure it is," I said.

The light turned green and the car pulled away, the words "No it aint, ya damn Socialist!" hung in the air above the blue blur of a McCain-Palin bumper sticker in motion.

"No it isn't," I said, resigned. "No it isn't."

So I'm a Socialist. Ok. Sure. Fine. I can agree with some of the tenets of Socialism. Taking money from the wealthy and spread it around for the commmon good. That's fine by me. I wonder, however, if our Mobile Politcal Profiler knows exactly what a Socialist is. According to Merriam-Webster online, Socialism is:

1: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2 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 state
3: 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

So, if I understand the driver's argument correctly, the view is that Barack Obama's policies will turn America into a Socialist land. I guess anything can happen.

However I suspect that the driver is equating Socialism with Communism, still a bad word throughout most of the world. And while there is a connection between the two, there's also a connection to something else.

Democracy and Socialism. Take a look at this quote and tell me if I'm wrong:

How can there be real democracy without equality? Throughout history, the struggle for democracy has always been associated with the assault on social privilege and the achievement of a greater degree of equality than had previously existed.

Huge disparities in the distribution of wealth are inherently undemocratic. Such disparities imply profound differences not only in social position but also political power. Those who possess immense wealth will do everything in their power to curtail the ability of the broad mass of people to effect changes that would adversely affect their privileged position.

How democratic can a society be when 90 percent of its wealth is effectively concentrated in the hands of less than 10 percent of its population? Were social conditions in America determined on a truly democratic basis, such extreme differences in the distribution of wealth would not be possible. Yes, American citizens enjoy certain important democratic rights. But workers have, when all is said and done, no control over the basic economic forces and decisions that largely determine the course of their lives. It is the owners of the means of production who determine who shall work and who shall not. And even those who have jobs are essentially powerless when it comes to determining the aims and direction of the company for which they work.

So while it is certainly true that there can be no real socialism without democracy, it is no less true that there can be no real democracy without socialism. Source

What does this all mean? Socialism is inherent in all of us, to some degree, but ideology has strangled it. That’s my thought at the moment anyway. I'm not even going to get started on the prevalent theory that Jesus was a Socialist. And no, I am making NO COMPARISON between myself and Jesus. I'm not even close. Please don't go there.

The thing that bothers me most about this Socialism kick in the media is that it's merely a catchphrase meant to alarm people. That's why McCain and Palin keep mentioning it and why the "liberal media" always mention it in the same breath with Joseph McCarthy and Communism. Hell, Sarah Palin couldn't tell you the difference between Joseph McCarthy and Charlie McCarthy, the puppet with Edgar Bergen's hand up his ass.

Though I'm sure people thought Joseph McCarthy had someone's hand up his ass too. Had to be something up there, anyway.

What troubles me is that a man of such honor and decency such as John McCain would do this. There have been questions, primarily from conservatives, that McCain's campaign is in disarray because there are too many voices, too many opinions deciding its direction. They may be right. And if John McCain isn't running his own campaign, then it's clear who is. The Republican National Committee. And that, my friends, is scary.

Possible headline in that scenario: "CITIZENS WATERBOARDED INSIDE VOTING BOOTHS"

No film at 11, or any other time.

So there you have it, folks. My trip to pick up grub leaves me targeted as a Socialist. Yeah. So to sign off for now, I have this to say...

To John McCain, I say, "Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"

To the rest of you, I say, "Good night, and good luck."