When Did Socialism Get a Bad Rep?

I noticed throughout the campaign and even during Obama’s first term as president, political critiques and commentators labeled Obama as a socialist. It has become an American tradition for both sides of the political spectrum to resort to simplistic labels. On the left, politicians have created the term “conservative” to have a negative connotation. And on the right, democrats are now supporters of socialism.  However, according to Professor Lavaque-Manty, “conservativism” and “socialism” have different meanings compared to the meanings that society has given them.

In the lecture on “Village Politics,” conservatism is defined as “cautiousness about political change.” However today being a conservative means no welfare, no taxes, putting business before everything else, and the mentality that United States is just fine the way it is. Mitt Romney is a “conservative” but during the elections his political campaign was not based upon anti-change or pro-tradition.

Similarly Obama is not a socialist; however, even if he were, would it really be such a terrible thing? According to Webster’s Dictionary the definition of “socialism” is “any of various economic and political theories advocating governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.” Now that doesn’t sound that bad does it? Personally, I’d rather the government to have control over the economy, education, etc. than an oligarchy of rich Wall Street businessmen. We can elect our president so why even have an election if he cannot control the staples of our society?  President Obama does emulate Lenin, in that he strives to seek more control over the economy, health care, finance, and education, while weakening control by the States. Now I could also say Obama is not only a Leninist but also a Communist…dare I even utter the word.

In lecture, Professor Lavaque-Manty noted that to us Communism is associated with a tyrannical dictatorship; however, according to Karl Marx, the creator of the ideology, it is supposed to be a classless society without institutions; all property is publicly owned. In a sense Obama does support this political theory. Obama’s progressive plan for income taxes is an attempt to raise taxes on “the rich” which helps to weaken class structure. Obama has also sought federal control on student loans as stated in his 2012 State of the Union Address.

Clearly Obama’s policies have a Marxian-Leninist essence to them. Does that mean that the United States government is destined to become socialist? Definitely not. Yes Obama in a sense is a socialist but not in the way that we think of when someone says the word socialism. Socialism and Communism do not directly mean Soviet Union and oppression. Obama supports federal control over some institutions such as education, but why should that be viewed as a bad thing? 

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/socialism