President Obama is a Socialist

Rebuttals: In Pro"s first link it states" "Is Barack Obama a socialist? Many observers, from points all along the ideological spectrum, have been exceedingly reticent to describe him as such, as though there were insufficient evidence to make the case for a charge so impolite. In February, for instance, a Business Week headline stated bluntly that "it"s dumb to call Obama a socialist." Four months later, the Associated Press published an article depicting the president merely as "a pragmatist within the Democratic Party mainstream," and suggesting that "the persistent claim that Obama is a socialist lacks credence." In July, a New York Times op-ed piece by film director Milos Forman said that Obama is "not even close" to being a socialist. Ezra Klein of the Washington Post casts Obama as no more radical than "a moderate Republican of the early 1990s." Republican strategist Karl Rove cautions, "If you say he"s a socialist, [his supporters] go to defend him." Leftist commentator Alan Colmes impugns those who "mischaracterize what Obama is doing as socialism, when there"s no government takeover" of the private sector. And Fox News" Bill O"Reilly"noting that he has seen "no evidence that the president wants to seize private property, which is what communists do""concludes that Obama "is not a socialist, he"s not a communist, he"s a social-justice anti-capitalist."(1) I appreciate pro for providing this link because it shows how ludicrous it is to call Obama a socialist. The author of the article concludes" "A ballot cast for Barack Obama is a ballot cast for a man who is, beyond any shadow of a doubt, a lifelong, committed socialist."(1) It seems odd that the author disagrees with most experts in the field of political science. The article was published on FrontPage magazine which is "is an online political magazine, edited by David Horowitz."(2) David Horowitz is buried in controversy and criticism. (3) As I am not a fan of attacking sources personally it will suffice me to say that he has a Master"s degree in English literature, but has no expertise in the realm of political science. Terrance Ball, political science professor at Arizona State University who has a Ph.D. in political science, has this to say on the subject.(4) ""I grow weary of Obama and the Democrats being called socialist," said Ball, who has written about ideologies. "If you talk to any real socialist, they disown them very, very quickly."(5) Empirical evidence was provided to support Terrance Ball"s statement in my last argument under section 2. Pro addressed my statement "I have many friends that I respect greatly that are Libertarians, Republicans, Democrats, and even Socialist. Yet I am none of these" by saying "The key word being here "friends', not people you have been formally mentored by. This what Frank Marshal Davis was to Obama, his teacher." Unfortunately for pro my so called "friends" include my formal college professors with whom I consider myself very close. This includes those professors who taught my political science classes. I would openly say that I have been mentored by these great teachers notwithstanding the wide degree of beliefs that they hold. Pro addressed my statement that "Both of my parents were staunch republicans and "raised" me as such, and yet I am no republican" and in response stated: "The major difference being here that you're also not the leader of the United States. Presumably, you did also not absorb your parents political beliefs on a personal level and then apply them to your career. As I have stated (and supported) Obama has." I concede that I am not the leader of the United States. ;) However as is empirically evident by the affordable care act, as I presented in the last round, that President Obama has not applied socialist ideals into his policies. Pro responded to my statement that "Progressive taxation can hardly be attributed to the ideology of socialism as it has historical roots in Rome", and responded that "its stated origins may be true but historically progressive taxation in fact has been connected to Socialism. An example being in 1848 when Marx and Engles proposed that progressive taxation, be used to "wrest, by degrees, all capital from the bourgeois, to centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the state." I invite pro to show how President Obama has tried "to centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the state." Looking at the definition of socialism I would invite Pro to point out where it states progressive taxation Socialism: ": "A way of organizing a society in which major industries are owned and controlled by the government rather than by individual people and companies"(6) Again I state "Socialism owns the idea of progressive taxation as much as Christians can claim they are the only ones to believe in a God, which is preposterous." Many socialist societies would implement a progressive tax, however as is empirically evident by ancient Rome, and other societies that none socialists also implement progressive taxation. Therefore it is not socialism to present a progressive tax. Concluding rebuttal After reviewing Pro"s sources it becomes evident that those who claim the president is a Socialist, belong to fringe groups that contain little to no expertise in the fields in which they write. Association with socialist does not make one a socialist. Progressive taxation is not exclusively socialist. New Arguments: 1: Do Socialists think Obama is a socialist? Billy Wharton the Co-Chairperson of the Socialist Party USA had this to say. "The funny thing is, of course, that socialists know that Barack Obama is not one of us. Not only is he not a socialist, he may in fact not even be a liberal. Socialists understand him more as a hedge-fund Democrat -- one of a generation of neoliberal politicians firmly committed to free-market policies."(7) 2: From the mouth of the President President Obama once said "People call me a socialist sometimes. But no, you've got to meet real socialists. (Laughter.) You'll have a sense of what a socialist is. (Laughter.) I'm talking about lowering the corporate tax rate. My health care reform is based on the private marketplace. The stock market is looking pretty good last time I checked."(8) Concluding round 3 Political science experts say President Obama is not a socialist. Socialist"s say that the President is not a socialist. President Obama says he is not socialist. His policies are empirical evidence that he is not a socialist. President Obama is not a socialist. (1)http://www.frontpagemag.com... (2)http://en.wikipedia.org... (3)http://en.wikipedia.org... (4)https://webapp4.asu.edu... (5)http://www.huffingtonpost.com... (6)http://www.merriam-webster.com... (7)http://www.washingtonpost.com... (8)http://socialistworker.org...