They call Obama Socialist or Marxist

I have read some (hopefully) not very serious allegations against Obama's politics. Some of them say he is socialist, some that he is Marxist. I would like to comment some of this, as to whether this means he is a "threat" to America. I just saw Schwarzenegger supporting this statement, giving som false "evidence" from western Europe. Eastern Europe has had problems with socialism, but that's not where Schwarzenegger is from. The reason he was not successful in Europe, is probably that "nobody becomes prophet in his own country". He was different. Conservatives don't like that under any ideology. If you look to Scandinavia, or Norway in particular, where I live, you would be surprised of how "socialist" we are, and still not suppressed. We have almost no poor people. And everybody who get sick will get medical help immediately, without exception. People in Norway don't need health-insurance. The maximum deductible for a whole year of health care in Norway is about $200. And that's about a days payment for an industrial worker in Norway. If you need to be hospitalized you pay $0. The government even provides cars for people who can't drive ordinary cars, and we send people with chronic diseases abroad if other climates can help reduce symptoms. Education is free in Norway, and everybody will get a scholarship if they don't live with their parents. If you loose your job, our welfare system will provide you with money. It keeps you shopping - and therefore we don't get a chain-reaction with more unemployment. And still we have one of the strongest economies in the world, with an enormous growth and no debt. When the rest of the economic world is falling down, we are relaxed and are looking at a worst case scenario of about 70 000 new unemployed. And it won't start a chain-reaction, because welfare provide you with purchase power. Our economy is not socialist, and its not capitalist. Its a mixed system. And it takes the best out of both. Americans, as it seems, are ignorant of this "middle way" as a possibility, still denying the downsides of too strong a capitalism. The ignorance is probably highest amongst those who call Obama Marxist. They obviously don't know what Marxism is. The biggest Marxist would actually be extreme-capitalists, because Marx predicted that power would get on few hands, and then the people would take this power. This is what happens now, because of the crisis - government (the people) needs to take more control over financial institutions. Under McCain this will worsen. In Norway government control as little as possible, but still provides society with a safety net. This safety net helps our economy grow. Americans are probably still scared from the propaganda from the cold war, and this could explain the fear for socialism. The true freedom lies in between the two systems. Nobody in Norway want socialism and few educated here people want pure capitalism. The reason for this is that in our system you know your economic problems will never threaten your children's health or education, and you know welfare will not inhibit your success. We don't like capitalists, and we don't like socialists. Obama is a true capitalist for us in Norway, but we like him better because we think he is more evolved emotionally and intellectually than McCain. Fear doesn't mess up his reasoning. McCain focuses on fear. Every doctor can tell you that fear lowers your ability to think rationally. And it might reduce your chances in a presidential campaign? It reduces your power as a human being. Please excuse the poor english, but my native language is Norwegian (a newer version of the Viking-language ;) There is nothing in Obama's politics that makes him nearly socialist or marxist. I oppose these allegations. His politics means increasing the safety-net for the american people, and therefore empowering the markets. He is a capitalist. If he was socialist, he would promote government regulation of production and who gets what instead of the markets regulating this. Increasing the safety-net will not inhibit the american dream coming true, on the contrary. Providing safety through health-care is similar to providing safety through a strong army. A strong army is not socialist either.