Socialism from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama

Conservatives can't make up their mind whether Barack Obama is going to be a "center-right" president or a socialist. Establishment Republicans like Karl Rove and David Brooks say "center-right." Wack job Michael Reagan says socialism.

Who to believe?

The Obama administration will probably propose these items:
1. an economic stimulus package focused on building infrastructure and creating new jobs;
2 a national health insurance system;
3. a new system of regulations for the financial system;
4. beefed up environmental and consumer legislation.

I'll eat my copy of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations if that's a "center-right agenda." The socialism question is a little more tricky. It depends on what you're talking about when you use the terms capitalism and socialism. If we're talking about "actually existing capitalism" (to use a Marxist term), then Obama and the Dems are just as committed to preserving capitalism as the Bush administration. The Bush administration was so committed to preserving actually existing capitalism from depression that they went against their own principles and at least partially took over investment companies, insurance companies, and banking system. Those can be called "socialist" measures because they involve government taking control over sections of private business. But it's socialism in defense of capitalism.

An Obama administration would do the same.

But Michael Reagan sees capitalism in terms of an ideal laissez faire economic system with no government interference outside enforcing laws against theft and fraud. From this kind of pie in the sky perspective, "socialism" is any kind of government involvement in the economic system and the U. S. has become more and more of a socialist country since the Teddy Roosevelt administration.

From this perspective, the Obama administration would be a socialist government if they did so little as raise the taxes of the wealthy by 3%.

If this is socialism, so be it. Capitalism served as a prop for feudalism for centuries before free markets became dominant. Who's to say that socialism can't serve as a prop for capitalism until there isn't very much capitalism to prop up any more.

Here's to socialism in defense of capitalism--the best of both systems.

At least for now.