On
Friday night, in a campaign stop in Roanoke, Virginia, President Obama
made what Michael Kinsley has called a gaffe. In Washington, a gaffe is
when you tell the truth, or, in this case, say what you really think:
Socialism is the doctrine that dare not speak its name. Conservatives run for office proudly on conservative philosophy, now summarized by the Tea Party as: fiscal responsibility - limited government - free markets. Socialists have to dissemble. Obama is not running and will not run as a socialist even though everybody knows he is one.
What is interesting about this quote, however, is that Obama is right. "You" didn't build that. You didn't go out and make the turbine to generate the electricity and string the wires to carry it to your factory or office. You didn't go out and mine the coal that heats the boilers that run the turbine. You didn't go out and smelt the steel to make the rails which were laid on rights of way to bring the coal to the boiler to make the electricity!
"If you've got a business - you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."He left out the best part: "from each according to his ability; to each according to his need." This second quote, of course, is not from Obama, but from Marx. It should be engraved over each encampment of the gulags around the world.
Socialism is the doctrine that dare not speak its name. Conservatives run for office proudly on conservative philosophy, now summarized by the Tea Party as: fiscal responsibility - limited government - free markets. Socialists have to dissemble. Obama is not running and will not run as a socialist even though everybody knows he is one.
What is interesting about this quote, however, is that Obama is right. "You" didn't build that. You didn't go out and make the turbine to generate the electricity and string the wires to carry it to your factory or office. You didn't go out and mine the coal that heats the boilers that run the turbine. You didn't go out and smelt the steel to make the rails which were laid on rights of way to bring the coal to the boiler to make the electricity!
No comments:
Post a Comment