Hey Republicans, Can We End the Red Scare Already? Liberals Aren't Communists!

[pakicetus]

The Republican Party is bursting with politicians who evidently think liberals are communists—even Presidential candidates. Donald Trump has called Bernie Sanders a communist multiple times. Ted Cruz says Obama would fit in at Harvard because it's full of "Marxists who believe in communists overthrowing the United States government." Ben Carson has said you need to read The Naked Communist and the works of Vladimir Lenin to understand Obama and his "Neo-Marxist New World Order."

Almost all conservative media sources do the same thing. Rush Limbaugh has called Bernie Sanders and Pope Francis communists, as has Michael Savage. Mark Levin says environmentalists are communists. Glenn Beck says all progressives are communists. Ann Coulter says the entire Democratic Party has been communist since the 1960s. The Washington Times calls Obama a communist (and an Islamist, in the same article), along with the entire Democratic Party. The New York Post calls Bernie Sanders a communist. Breitbart.com says communists are "behind the climate change movement." WorldNetDaily says Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, Nancy Pelosi, and Elizabeth Warren are communists. RedState.com says democratic socialists, including Bernie Sanders specifically, are communists. NewsMax.com compares Obamacare to communism (and also accuses Obama of wanting a tax rate of "60 to 70 percent of GDP," which would be Sweden and America's tax rates combined). TownHall.com calls Bernie Sanders a communist. TheBlaze.com calls Obama a "communist tyrant" and compares him to Fidel Castro. The Daily Signal says America is the same as "Communist China" because of the auto bailout. CNS News calls Obamacare "the road to communism." Forbes says Obama supports "Marxist-Leninist economics." The Daily Caller calls Obamacare's contraceptive mandate communist. Fox News seems to think everyone in the world is a communist: Eric Bolling has called Sesame Street communist, along with The Muppets; Sean Hannity has said Obama and Elizabeth Warren are communists; Tom McInerney has called the mayor of New York a communist; Greg Gutfeld has called Ben Stein a communist (and Stein is a Republican!); Steve Doocy has called CNN communist; Andrew Napolitano has called Pope Francis a communist; Monica Crowley has called Obama a communist; Allen West has said 96% of House Democrats are Communist Party members; and Bill O'Reilly has said Obamacare is part of a communist vision, right before calling Alan Colmes a communist for supporting universal healthcare. (Every other first world country has universal healthcare. Is Canada communist?)

These aren't fringe members of the Republican Party. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are the two leading Republican Presidential candidates. Ben Carson used to be neck-and-neck with Trump in the polls, and the vast majority of Republicans still think he would make a good President. Rush Limbaugh is the most listened-to radio host in America, and Glenn Beck, Mark Levin and Michael Savage are all in the top ten. Forbes is a major business magazine. The Washington Times and the New York Post are major newspapers. Half of Republicans say Fox is their main news source. Bill O'Reilly has the most-watched cable news show in America, and Sean Hannity is up there too.

Let me be clear: Barack Obama isn't a communist, nor is the Pope, nor is Bernie Sanders, nor am I, nor is anyone Republicans are likely to call a communist. Merriam-Webster defines communism as "the elimination of all private property," "a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production," or "a final stage of society in Marxian theory in which the state has withered away and economic goods are distributed equitably." The Oxford English dictionary says communism aims for "a society in which all property is publicly owned." Wikipedia says communism's ultimate goal is "a socioeconomic order structured upon the common ownership of the means of production and the absence of social classes, money, and the state."

No one in the Democratic Party is calling for a totalitarian one-party state, or the elimination of all private property, or a completely egalitarian stateless society. If these major Republican figures think that's what Obama or Sanders or other Democrats advocate, their brains are broken. On the other hand, if they're just getting the definition of communism horribly wrong, and think raising taxes on the rich or supporting paid family leave is communism, that means they couldn't pass my high school government class.

 

[nightflight]

So the Republicans have a stretchy definition of "communism"? I counter with the infinitely pliable definition of "raaaacism" by progressives.

 

[pakicetus]

So the Republicans have a stretchy definition of "communism"?

It's not just stretchy, it's bewildering, shameful, and scary. It means a substantial number of major Republicans have no idea what the Democrats actually believe, and know virtually nothing about politics or government.

 

[ChristsSoldier115]

So the Republicans have a stretchy definition of "communism"? I counter with the infinitely pliable definition of "raaaacism" by progressives.

How many republican friends do you have? because most of mine are and they cry racism just as much. lol

 

[Sea Anemone]

Great write-up! It's scary to think that a large part of our national dialogue has such a flimsy understanding of history and economics (if they even mean what they say). Obama and Sanders' policies are more akin to some form of a social market economy. From wiki:

The social market economy (German: Soziale Marktwirtschaft) is a social and economic system combining free market capitalism which supports private enterprise, alongside social policieswhich establish both fair competition within the market and a welfare state.[1][2] It is sometimes classified as a coordinated market economy.[3] The social market economy was originally promoted and implemented in West Germany by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer in 1949.[4] Its origins can be traced to the interwar Freiburg school of economic thought.[5]

The social market economy was designed to be a third way between laissez-faire economic liberalism and socialist economics.[6] It was strongly inspired by ordoliberalism,[7] social democratic ideas, and the tradition of Catholic social teaching or, more generally, Christian ethics.[6]

The social market economy refrains from attempts to plan and guide production, the workforce, or sales, but it does support planned efforts to influence the economy through the organic means of a comprehensive economic policy coupled with flexible adaptation to market studies. Effectively combining monetary, credit, trade, tax, customs, investment, and social policies, as well as other measures, this type of economic policy creates an economy that serves the welfare and needs of the entire population, thereby fulfilling its ultimate goal.[8]

The 'social' segment is often wrongly confused with socialism and democratic socialism, though aspects were inspired by both models. Social market economics rejects the socialist idea that states can replace markets. Socially the model supports the provision of equal opportunity and protection of those unable to enter the free market labor force, for example because of old-age, disability or unemployment.[9]

 

[Armoured]

The Republican Party is bursting with politicians who evidently think liberals are communists—even Presidential candidates. Donald Trump has called Bernie Sanders a communist multiple times. Ted Cruz says Obama would fit in at Harvard because it's full of "Marxists who believe in communists overthrowing the United States government." Ben Carson has said you need to read The Naked Communist and the works of Vladimir Lenin to understand Obama and his "Neo-Marxist New World Order."

Virtually all major conservative media figures do the same thing. Rush Limbaugh has called Bernie Sanders and Pope Francis communists, as has Michael Savage. Mark Levin says environmentalists are communists. Glenn Beck says all progressives are communists. Breitbart.com says communists are "behind the climate change movement." WorldNetDaily says Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, Nancy Pelosi, and Elizabeth Warren are communists. RedState.com says democratic socialists, including Bernie Sanders specifically, are communists. NewsMax.com compares Obamacare to communism (and also accuses Obama of wanting a tax rate of "60 to 70 percent," which is way higher than Denmark's). TownHall.com calls Bernie Sanders a communist. The Daily Signal says America is the same as "Communist China" because of the auto bailout. CNS News calls Obamacare "the road to communism." Forbes says Obama supports "Marxist-Leninist economics." The Daily Caller calls Obama a communist. The New York Post calls Bernie Sanders a communist. The Washington Times calls Obama a communist (and an Islamist, in the same article), along with the entire Democratic Party. Fox News has called a thousand people communists for no good reason: Sean Hannity has said Obama and Elizabeth Warren are communists; Eric Bolling has called Sesame Street a communist show, along with The Muppets, and he's called Obama a communist too; Tom McInerney has called the mayor of New York a communist; Allen West has said 96% of House Democrats are Communist Party members; and Bill O'Reilly has said Obamacare is part of a communist vision, right before calling Alan Colmes a communist for supporting universal healthcare. (Every other first world country has universal healthcare. Are Germany and Canada communist?)

These aren't fringe members of the Republican Party. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are the two leading Republican Presidential candidates. Ben Carson used to be neck-and-neck with Trump in the polls, and the vast majority of Republicans still think he would make a good President. Rush Limbaugh is the most listened-to radio host in America, and Glenn Beck, Mark Levin and Michael Savage are all in the top ten. Half of Republicans say Fox is their main news source. Bill O'Reilly has the most-watched cable news show in America, and Sean Hannity is up there too.

Let me be clear: Barack Obama isn't a communist, nor is the Pope, nor is Bernie Sanders, nor am I, nor is anyone Republicans are likely to call a communist. Marriam-Webster defines communism as "the elimination of all private property," "a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production," or "a final stage of society in Marxian theory in which the state has withered away and economic goods are distributed equitably." The Oxford English dictionary says communism aims for "a society in which all property is publicly owned." Wikipedia says communism's ultimate goal is "a socioeconomic order structured upon the common ownership of the means of production and the absence of social classes, money, and the state."

No one in the Democratic Party is calling for an autocratic one-party state, or the government taking over the means of production, or the elimination of all private property, or a completely egalitarian stateless society. If these major Republican figures think that's what Obama or Sanders or other Democrats advocate, their brains are broken. On the other hand, if they're just getting the definition of communism horribly wrong, and think raising taxes on the rich or supporting paid family leave is communism, that means they couldn't pass my high school government class.

I've long said that communism, socialism, and their derivatives, have become little more than a generic epithet to most people. People in the West were told Communists were bad for so long without ever being told why, that they just think it's a bad thing. I sincerely doubt the average person who uses either term to describe any current political leader could write a first year political science paper on what the terms actually mean, much as I doubt the average person could write such a paper on the differences between liberalism and conservatism. You'll note "liberal" is used as a generic epithet, too, without any understanding of what the term actually means.

 

[ChristsSoldier115]

I've long said that communism, socialism, and their derivatives, have become little more than a generic epithet to most people. People in the Wet were told Communists were bad for so long without ever being told why, that they just think it's a bad thing. I sincerely doubt the average person who uses either term to describe any current political leader could write a first year political science paper on what the terms actually mean, much as I doubt the average person could write such a paper on the differences between liberalism and conservatism. You'll note "liberal" is used as a generic epithet, too, without any understanding of what the term actually means.

I would say every child born during the cold war has been taught that.

 

[Fantine]

To be fair, it's not always the candidates. The Super PACs do most of the negative ads. So blame Citizens United, and the Koch Brothers. Thank God the Koch Brothers are only polluting your airwaves and not the drinking waters and rivers in your hometown with their factories (one reason they buy politicians).

 

[ArmenianJohn]

Nothing wrong with being a Communist - I take Communion at church all the time and so do most Christians.

 

[Extraneous]

Nothing wrong with being a Communist - I take Communion at church all the time and so do most Christians.

Ok, so communion is communism. I guess if partaking of the Lords supper is about being a member of a worldly political party then i will decline.

 

[ChristsSoldier115]

Communism is a great philosophical idea, but I can't see it working outside small communities with folks who agree to it. Like mass scale attempts by force eventually turn into what you see with the failed "communist" states

 

[Eryk]

It always kind of amazed me, how Republicans could be unaware of progressive's frustration with Obama, and they kept saying he was to the left of us. There is no gradient. You're either Reagan or Stalin. And I mean contemporary-conservative-hagiography Reagan, not the President who raised taxes and increased the federal workforce.

 

[ChristsSoldier115]

It always kind of amazed me, how Republicans could be unaware of progressive's frustration with Obama, and they kept saying he was to the left of us. There is no gradient. You're either Reagan or Stalin. And I mean contemporary-conservative-hagiography Reagan, not the President who raised taxes and increased the federal workforce.

You mean the nonsensical Reagan modern day republicans have created with nostalgia? Look dude I am a registered republican but I know the man wasn't perfect.

 

[Extraneous]

I believe that sharing all things, like we see in Acts chapter 4, is good, but it cannot be forced on anyone in the church because that contradicts scripture. It should instead be taught by example, i believe. The Church leaders must teach by example. Forcing unbelievers to live in a certain way also contradicts scripture. The Church judges itself but not the world. God judges the world himself.

To add politics to our faith is not wise.

 

[Hetta]

I believe that sharing all things, like we see in Acts chapter 4, is good, but it cannot be forced on anyone in the church because that contradicts scripture. It should instead be taught by example, i believe.

That's very convenient. So if you don't "learn by example" to give to the poor, you can just keep your money, right? That's fine by me. That means that you can keep off "our" highways, and don't use our libraries. And that's just to begin with.

 

[ChristsSoldier115]

To add politics to our faith is not wise.

Such a statement deserves a thread all by itself in the american politics IMHO

 

[Extraneous]

Such a statement deserves a thread all by itself in the american politics IMHO

Great idea, and i have considered it but i dont feel its good for me. Perhaps i planted a seed in you brother, feel free to start such a thread, perhaps i'll join in and share.

 

[Extraneous]

That's very convenient. So if you don't "learn by example" to give to the poor, you can just keep your money, right? That's fine by me. That means that you can keep off "our" highways, and don't use our libraries. And that's just to begin with.

No, i believe in paying taxes and the scriptures teach us to pay our taxes. That however is not the same thing that i was talking about.

 

[Extraneous]

Romans 13 teaches us to pay our taxes and submit to the government. That government that Paul was referring to in that scripture, at that time, was a pagan Roman government

 

[Extraneous]

I edited my last RE.

I meant to say "submit to the Government" but not submit the government.