My Attempt at Speech Writing to Respond to Socialist Accusations

[louis c]

Barack Obama will return on Saturday from visiting his ailing Grandmother. After the obligatory thank yous and get wells, I want him to address this socialism charge.

My follow Americans, this is not the first time America has been in an economic crisis, and this is not the first time those who would be apologists for the greedy have resorted to name calling in an attempt to defeat their opponents. Back in 1932, in the midst of the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt was also unfairly accused of being a Socialist. What FDR proposed was that we had to insure the banks, initiate national development projects to improve our infrastructure and create jobs. He knew that we had to rebuild the American economy by giving tax breaks to the middle class and the working poor. Franklin Roosevelt did not shrink from his belief that government must do more in time of crisis because his political opponents resorted to name calling. He persevered and trusted the judgment of Americans of his day. I have chosen the same path. I, too, will not shrink from unfounded name calling that those who want to continue the same failed policies choose to shout at me. Just as the Democratic candidate for President stood by the Democratic Party's principals and trusted the American people in 1932, so shall I, the Democratic candidate for President in 2008, stand by our principals. Our opponents last, desperate attempt to hold on to power is destined to fail, because it is rooted in fear. I say to you today, as President Roosevelt said to an anxious nation in 1933, the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.

[David Dunham]

1. Another good response: Bush is a socialist for investing our $ in the banks

[louis c]

7. Funny how that works, ha.

The plan that took taxpayers money to bail out the wealthiest and greediest wall street millionaires was a rescue plan. But when we ask the millionaires to help the workers, it's Socialism

[av8rdave]

2. That's good. Here's another

My fellow Americans, Senator McCain would have you believe that my proposed tax policy is somehow socialist. I ask you: what part of my plan do you suppose he objects to? My tax increase for the wealthy is simply a rollback of the regressive tax cuts President Bush enacted. You might recall that Senator McCain was against those Bush tax cuts back in the days when he believed in straight talk.

Or do you suppose he objects to my proposed tax relief for the 90% of families that earn less than $250,000 per year? Since when was tax relief socialism? Perhaps it is Senator McCain who doesn't understand.

[louis c]

8. I like yours, also (NT)

[unkachuck]

3. great!

....now all we have to do is convince Obama to give your speach....email it to him....

[VoodooGuru]

4. "I'm a socialist, and I've never seen him at any of the meetings!" (serious post inside, though)

But in all seriousness... it's scurrilous name-calling. Not a bit of substance to it, and your post nails it nicely. We don't shrink from the challenge because some free-market zealot thinks government actually doing something is automatically "socialist". We want him to tackle our problems with strong government action because it's clearly what is needed at this time. When you're sick, you may not like the taste of the medicine, but do you trust the doctor who gave it to you? That's what we need right now. A president who uses sound judgment and doesn't rule out options because it makes people in his party, or people in the pundit class, or professional angry people on the radio unhappy. A president who isn't afraid to try what might work, and who you can trust to treat you, the citizen, like a grown, intelligent person and explain why he does what he does, not just make noise about being the decider.

[Captain Hilts]

5. The US military and the NFL are examples of two socialist organizations that work fine. nt

[patrice]

6. Demanding Real Value in return for Real Value invested is not Socialism; it's Capitalism

The time/labor/talent/skills of American Labor is Real Value. The jobs and paychecks we receive in exchange for our time/labor/talent/skills are not Real Values. No matter how good your work, nor how consistent your attendance and work-ethic, your job can disappear for reasons that have nothing to do with you, so jobs are not a Real Value. The value of the paychecks and property that we receive in exchange for our work, as Wall Street recently VERY clearly demonstrated, is nothing more than 0s and 1s manipulated by PRIVATE computers, so paychecks and property are NOT Real Values.

What is a good American Labor Capitalist to do? Continue to invest ourselves without Real Value in return. That would be BAD Capitalism. That would be Stupid.

Good Capitalism would be: In exchange for our cooperation with, and personal investments in, systems, economic, political, social, legal, etc., American Labor should receive Real Value in return. Real Value would be things such as: Universal Health Care, Complete and appropriate Education, Genuine Justice, Rational national budget priorities, stuff like that . . . .

[louis c]

9. Agreed (NT)