What Is Socialism? And Is Obama a Socialist?

I came across several instances where socialists argue how policies and systems commonly referred to as “socialism” are actually not. They usually cite some idealistic view of socialism that in reality can never come about and state that that’s real socialism while everything else is not.

In a Washington Post article entitled “Obama’s No Socialist. I Should Know.” Bill Wharton, editor of the Socialist magazine, goes as far as arguing that Barack Obama is not a socialist. Yes ladies and gentlemen, Mr. “spread the wealth around” himself is no socialist!

So let me set the record straight with a dictionary definition of socialism.

From Dictionary.com:

a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.

In other words, the taking over or controlling of private business or property in order to benefit the “common good” is socialism! Examples include cap-and-trade, government control of banks and auto companies, government run health care, and in general any “spreading of the wealth around” that first involves confiscating it from those who earned it.

Still not convinced Obama is a socialist? Watch this video from the Glenn Beck program with Obama footage and quotes that prove he subscribes to Marxist ideals:

If you disagree, that what Obama wants is socialism, then call it (wealth redistribution and government takeover of private industry) whatever you want, but I’m still going to call it socialism. And for your information, even the Communist Soviet Block nations never called themselves communists, they always reported to be socialists on the way to communism. For some reason denial of who you are is a way of life for these people.

Some socialists ask, well how do you know that socialism won’t work, since true socialism has never been tried before? True socialism, or any other socialism will fail because of the same reasons what’s currently practiced in the Western world is failing.