Yes. That's right. The Republican Party have proposed a resolution to rename the Democratic Party. They wish to call them "The Democrat Socialist Party."
First of all, let me just illustrate how effective this "change" will be. According to the latest ABC poll, only 21% of Americans are registered as Republicans. And this "resolution," if passed, is a piece of paper.
Michael Steele, in his typical Michael Steele fashion - that is, swallowing some pride and agreeing just enough to appease the hardliners, but not so much as to alienate the moderates - claims that he agrees with the resolution's depiction of the Democratic Party, but would rather not see it officially become the party-wide policy.
Michael Steele, in this half-assed agreement, half-assed disagreement, claims that he agrees that Obama is taking America down a "dangerous" path to European-style socialism.
What exactly is so dangerous?
"Socialism" is a word that John McCain, Sarah Palin, and Fox News began throwing around during the election, hoping the dirty stain left on the word by Communism would frighten voters. And this campaign ploy, this cheap word, hasn't gone away.
Cuba is a soclialist country. Cuba's has a mostly state-run economy and lacks a stock exchange. Cuba's economy ranks 177th on the Economic Freedom Index. This would indeed be dangerous, and would be something to fear, were we actually on the road to becoming Cuba. But we're not. More on that later.
Now, what's really bizarre is that many point to Sweden, not Cuba, as being the chief example of socialism, and warn that we, too, could become like Sweden.
Let me explain why Sweden is considered socialist. Sweden has mostly private industry, but with many well-funded government programs available, as well as universal healthcare, government-provided
education at all levels available, and does have a stock exchange. Sweden's economy is ranked 26th on the Economic Freedom Index.
Can we PLEASE be more like Sweden?
Universal healthcare, government-provided education at all levels (this is including college), a mostly private economy (this means the state does NOT control the entire economy, but rather, regulates responsibly), and these "government programs" include business start-up grants, measures to increase representation of women, granting of parental leave for new fathers, and so on. They're also really big on gender equality in the workforce, meaning equal wages for equal work.
Is this what we're fearing? Is this the "danger?"
The Republicans would have you believe that we're headed down a slippery slope towards total government control of the economy. They're bemoaning the "death of the free market." They're teabagging in the streets.
Reality is much simpler, though. The reality is, the "free market" hasn't been completely free in a very, very long time. There has been regulation in place for years; this is what the SEC exists for. Under Bush, however, and, to be fair, even under Clinton, the market slowly underwent a bit of deregulation. Had the economy been responsibly-regulated, the market collapse would most likely have been averted.
Obama is calling for stricter regulation and accountability on Wall Street. Some companies have been bailed out with government money, and as such, will be under supervision by the government to see that the taxpayers' money isn't squandered. Yes, it's true that if these policies are taken to an extreme, to such a point that the government takes control of the majority of the market, "owns" a majority of the companies, and mandates rather than regulates, we would become a socialist nation.
But that's not happening. Drafting a resolution calling the Democratic Party a bunch of socialists is more than a misnomer, it's smear tactics adopted as doctrinal party policy.
But such is the Republican Party. They can smear even the most positive aspects of their opponents. Such as the intelligence of Barack Obama - "He's an elitist."
So, go ahead, Republican Party. Draft your resolution. Vote away. The other 79% of America will write you off as irrelevant, as per usual.
Post a Comment