Miloš Forman knows a thing or two about real tyranny. Nazis arrested his parents: his mother died in Auschwitz; his father, in Buchenwald. He lived in Warsaw Pact Czechoslovakia. He lost a TV job for making a Communist Party official look bad on air. When the Soviets crushed the Prague Spring in 1968, he fled his home country and headed for America to make movies.
To Forman's well-trained historical eye, all this talk about President Obama's socialism looks offensively ignorant:
I hear the word "socialist" being tossed around by the likes of Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and others. President Obama, they warn, is a socialist. The critics cry, "Obamacare is socialism!" They falsely equate Western European-style socialism, and its government provision of social insurance and health care, with Marxist-Leninist totalitarianism. It offends me, and cheapens the experience of millions who lived, and continue to live, under brutal forms of socialism [Miloš Forman, "Obama the Socialist? Not Even Close," New York Times, 2012.07.10].
Forman says socialism is not simply the big-government bugaboo that my conservative friends holler about. (And remember: President Obama has overseen a reduction of public sector payrolls that has sandbagged the economic recovery.) The socialism he experienced was a corrupt spoils system that served the elites and excluded opposition.
Forman doesn't see socialism as a solution to America's ills any more than some of my favorite liberal advocates do. But he recognizes that calling our current President a socialist and our current system socialism is not only incorrect but historically insulting.
What? There are countries with socialism that aren't totalitarian?
This statement is political witchcraft. That's even worse than socialism
Let's convene some new courts in Salem
Maybe he should have coffee with GOP stalwart Kitty Werthmann.
Just because communists like Obama haven't completely implemented their communist plan does not excuse them from being communists. Communism evolution style, versus revolution style, is Fabian socialism. And this is not happening in America as a nation. It is happening in America on an international basis via the United Nations...Agenda 21, UNESCO, etc. It is happening in South Dakota via the 6 planning Districts, International based education standards, economic development for a global economy, and now RomneyCare/ObamaCare/DaugaardCare.
LK, McCarthy would be dancing for joy in today's world. I am sure that Joesphy McCarthy was a personal hero of Mr. Sibson. I suppose that since the military higher-ups went along with DADT repeal and allowing gay Americans to serve in the military, they are Communists too? Did you forget to mention VAcare in your list? This is not the 1950's or the 1780's.
No, President Obama is not promoting socialism per se. What he is promoting and has even done policies supporting it is closer to fascism. The government does not own the means of production. The government allows the means of production to remain in private hands, but tells the owners what they have to do with the means of production. That is closer to the classical definition of fascism.
Barnes! how revolting to see you!
Yesterday, the Diane Rehm Show was dominated by people conceding to the GOP's word machine and how the meanness of their propaganda is unsurpassed. Barnes brings it to Madville.
Willard Romney makes Silvio Berlusconi look like a feminist.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/07/romneys-true-bain-tenure-raises-questions-128732.html
I don't know what duggersd means by "classical defiinition of fascism." And I don't think he does either. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fascism
Forman experienced real fascism and real socialism. I think he'd be as offended by Dugger's resort to the f-word as Randazzo/Limbaugh/et al.'s resort to the s-word.
That's conservatives for you, nothing but f-word this and s-word that.
"Just because communists like Obama haven’t completely implemented their communist plan does not excuse them from being communists. Communism evolution style, versus revolution style, is Fabian socialism. And this is not happening in America as a nation. It is happening in America on an international basis via the United Nations…Agenda 21, UNESCO, etc. It is happening in South Dakota via the 6 planning Districts, International based education standards, economic development for a global economy, and now RomneyCare/ObamaCare/DaugaardCare."
Steve, your posts which do now and then make sense are trashed when you make a nonsense comment like the above.
Willard Romney would fail Senate confirmation hearing: TPM.
fas·cism (fshzm)
n.
1. often Fascism
a. A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
b. A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government.
2. Oppressive, dictatorial control
Yeap, that would be Obama.
Obama for President of the United States of Earth!
Douglas, ever hear of New Age Marxism:
In Part One, we talked about how the New Age Marxists are calling for a “shift†in our consciousness, closely aligned with goddess/feminist theology, to a Marxist utopia where the white, male “takers†of society are deindustrialized and disempowered, leaving us all in perfect harmony.
This push for the Obama administration to destroy our economy, industry and agricultural systems in the name of social justice is promoted by a vast network far too extensive to explore here. However, I would like to highlight just a few of the players in this movement, along with some connections that might surprise you.
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/25422
got that man-cave built yet, stevie?
Agenda 21, Canadian social/sewage/synfuel sustainably sourced: source.
The Silence of the Lambs.........
Is that what you hope for when ewe have one stuck in the fence, Charlie?
Larry I love your humor but mine was written for the opposite effect. Myopic breeding may suspicion outcomes.
In for a cold drink Mr. Larry Kurtz---and need to get back to cutting very short, drought ravaged hay. Chiming in again for a very short repose to ignorance by the few who believe that Government can do anything better than the private sector can except for nuking hostile countries into submission.......
Charlie, have I incorrectly given you the impression that I'm some kind of political absolutist? I do believe in some basic principles, but the idea that government always does things better than the private sector is not among them. I take Adam Smith's position that government has three proper roles: (1) protect us from marauders without, (2) protect us from marauders within, and (3) take care of problems that the private sector cannot or will not solve effectively. The great political challenge is determining which of those problems fall within #3. (Nuking hostile countries falls within #1 and should never be outsourced to Blackwater Xe.)
I want to piggy back off Cory's post.
1. I wish the people who quote Smith and the power of the invisible hand also quoted him about the evils of the joint stock company.
2. I wish that people who revered Hayek also remembered the part about society needing a safety net.
3. I wish the people who revered Amendments 2 and 10 also revered 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
4. I wish the people who advocate the super military would explain why the nation can continue to spend more on its military than the next 15 countries combined. If one combined all the military budgets in the world, the US's budget would be 40 percent of the total.
If people want small effective government, they are going to have to look at shrinking all of it small, not just the parts they don't like
Great addition, LK. Seriously. Thanks!
LK, there is wisdom in your words.
People who think the right says mean things? LOL part of the reason I come here is to be called names.
Just kidding Cory. I come here to meet up with Billy, Larry and Sibby.
I get confused between LK's wisdom and lk's wisdom some times. Even though I can still tell my good frends Bill and Sibby apart at breakfast (Bob too, but he's boycotting my breakfasts these days) I think my mind is just old and addled.
Bill and Troy, thanks for the kind words.
Grudz, don't feel bad about being old and confused.
I'm so old that thought that Billy, Larry, and Sibby were the first names of Earth, Wind, and Fire
Wind: thanks, LK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlppIdtLw5A&feature=related
Rush Limbaugh recently railed against new Batman movie, calling it anti-capitalism:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/rush-limbaugh-claims-new-batman-movie-is-liberal-attack-on-romney/2012/07/17/gJQAbHY0rW_story.html