The "socialist" label that Sen. John McCain and his GOP presidential running mate Sarah Palin are trying to attach to Sen. Barack Obama actually has long and very ugly historical roots.
J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI from 1924 to 1972, used the term liberally to describe African Americans who spent their lives fighting for equality.
Those freedom fighters included the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who led the Civil Rights Movement; W.E.B. Du Bois, who in 1909 helped found the NAACP which is still the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization; Paul Robeson, a famous singer, actor and political activist who in the 1930s became involved in national and international movements for better labor relations, peace and racial justice; and A. Philip Randolph, who founded and was the longtime head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and a leading advocate for civil rights for African Americans.
McCain and Palin have simply reached back in history to use an old code word for black. It set whites apart from those deemed unAmerican and those who could not be trusted during the communism scare.
Shame on McCain and Palin.
The dictionary definition from dictionary.com:
"so·cial·ist (sō'shə-lĭst)
n. An advocate of socialism."
"so·cial·ism (sō'shə-lĭz'əm)
n. Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy.
The stage in Marxist-Leninist theory intermediate between capitalism and communism, in which collective ownership of the economy under the dictatorship of the proletariat has not yet been successfully achieved."
Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Al Gore, Barney Frank and pretty much most of the Democratic Party are all called socialists at one time or another, based on their redistribution of wealth policies. Most of them are not black.
Sometimes a socialist really is just a socialist, Lewis. Stop being so paranoid.
6 comments:
Socio-political ideology is not in any way related to skin color. What people ought to be wondering about is, "What do socialists believe, and why do they believe it?"
I suspect that 90% of these people are like mina-birds, who repeat words and phrases without any understanding of meaning or consequences. This is the result of too little education.
The pursuit of class warfare in a nation such as ours is completely inane. Everyone has access to the same opportunities. Everyone has the right to choose, and live with personal decisions. But this isn't really about the merits of socialism, or the Marxist ideology associated with black liberation theology. No, not at all.
It is about achieving political power, and maintaining it, by manipulating gosh-awful stupid people into thinking that whitey is keeping him down. It is no more, and no less, than the tactics employed by Adolf Hitler in the 1930s; social selection and manipulation; divide and conquer. Apparently Mr. Lewis has bought in to this fraud ... one cannot help but wonder why.
The race card played? No, it can't be! I won't hear of it, they would never stoop so low! Ha, Ha, Ha....don't make me laugh!
Anyway Obama being a socialist has zero, zip, nada, to do with being black. I suppose if Hillary won, they would be saying the same thing except playing the woman card. To connect socialism and being black is just ridiculous and another attempt to paint us as racists. It's getting might tiring!
//... one cannot help but wonder why.//
Why is the grass green, why is the sky blue? If I had an answer I'd at least have a job predicting roller derby victories.
But this one thing I do know, we are in an awful predicament if people like this come to power.
//I suppose if Hillary won, they would be saying the same thing except playing the woman card. //
No doubt. Politicians will use any means possible to get an advantage, to castigate, ridicule, and villify.
one of the core strategies of the democrats is using false or unsubstantiated fears to maintain power. sounds like big brother in 1984. keep the proles afraid and they will keep you in power. throw things down the memory hole through public education and control of the media.
//keep the proles afraid and they will keep you in power.//
That's what's funny about this. The left accuses the right of using the war to create "politics of fear". But they use the same tactic on economics. They do love to change the definition of terms, don't they?
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