Thanks to Joe Six-Pack here, I've had no end of fun playing the "Obama's a socialist" drinking game. The rules are fairly simple - every time the words 'Obama,' 'socialist' and 'tax-plan' are mentioned in the same sentence, a shot is downed. The upshot is that I've had a lot of drunken afternoons this week.
Joe the Plumber summed up everything that is wrong with conservative economic thought. "Why should I share some of my earnings?" is their constant, tiresome refrain. They have no comprehension of the benefits of redistribution and social mobility, just this prehistoric concept of "Me keep what mine." I am proud to call myself a socialist, Obama should be too, although I realise that is impossible for any American politician with aspirations higher than the local school board. The dirty word of American politics needs to be taken up as a mantle once more - why can millions proudly label themselves as conservatives, but a person with socialist views is derided as a dangerous, unpatriotic psychopath who probably longs for a violent revolution of the workforce. Politicians desperately need to decontaminate the term 'socialism', otherwise it will forever be relegated to a term of abuse reeled out by the juvenile, dim-witted boors who pass themselves off as 'pundits' and 'experts.'
The American Dream was not built upon a foundation of greed and selfishness. That's what Obama should be telling McCain and his unqualified plumber friends.
Coiff (Proud Socialist).