Are O’Reilly & Obama Socialists?

Is he a Communist or European socialist or just someone who wants to make a perfect world for one and all? Are we talking about Fox’s pundit Bill O’Reilly or our world citizen, President Obama, or both?

But first, what is a socialist? That’s easy. A socialist is one who advocates or practices socialism.

So what is socialism? It can be a society or group voluntarily living together equally sharing all things in common, or an involuntary political system. For some Marxists, socialism means a transition between capitalism and agrarian socialism. Sharing all things in common may sound desirable but never works for long. It goes against human nature.

Regardless of title, socialism is an economic and political system where production and distribution are either owned and/or controlled by the state—resulting in varying degrees of totalitarianism. This is the economic and political system of Fascism, Communism, European socialism, and the trend in Washington, D.C.

“He called for agrarian reform to restructure and limit private ownership, while in the industrial sector he aimed at the “nationalization” of important firms. He saw the chief enemy of “National Socialist German freedom” in stock-exchange capitalism.”
Goebbels ___ Ralf Georg Reuth

Socialism is more than sharing the wealth. Communism, National Socialism, or the secular welfare state, regardless of name and degree are socialistic. All aspire to more than sharing wealth. All seek total public (government) ownership or control of production and public (government) distribution of such production. All look to government as the answer. All seek to build a secular socialistic man-made utopia in their own image. All result in bigger centralized government control and planning. All result in varying degrees of totalitarianism. All seek to replace God with moral relativism. All seek to replace church and family with a dehumanizing state. All are enemies of Judeo-Christian thought and values. All are enemies of our children and grandchildren’s personal freedom and financial future.

To make socialism work and all be equal, some need to be more equal than others. Since socialism goes against human nature’s self interest, force is needed, requiring an increasing transfer of power from the many to the few—the more equal.

For the would-be more equal elitist left, our President is not going fast enough to build the New America, the secular socialism America’s extreme left desires. Middle American in growing number believe our President is going to fast and to far left. They believe our President deplores our constitutional freedom and the competitive capitalistic economic system that built a free and prosperous America. They also believe he wishes to replace it with a stagnate secular socialist state.

Most newspaper pundits and TV chatter boxes, however, continue to defend President Obama’s share-the-wealth ideas and claim such ideas are not socialistic—of course they are. Yet, even Fox’s semi-conservative talking head Bill O’Reilly doesn’t seem to know if Obama is a socialist or not. Maybe because O’Reilly tends at time to turn to government as the answer to all the big problems—real or otherwise.

Although he has since changed his mind, O’Reilly originally supported government health care for all. Because he said, he cared for the “folks.” He continues to support the massive bailouts that plunged America into a binge spending and ever bigger deficits nightmare. Once again he claimed his support was based on carrying for the “folks.” We needed to do it to save America’s economic system.

As always, claiming his care for us little “folks,” he defended Obama forcing British Petroleum to put into escrow 20 Billion for the “folks.” Well yes, BP is responsible for the threat to an individuals right to their property and ability to make a living. BP must be made to accept responsibility and pay damages. America, however, is a land of Constitutional law not White House threats and political pandering. That somehow escapes Bill O’Reilly and many me-too Republicans. O’Reilly once again embraced the power of the collectivist state when he said, “I don’t care how the government (White House) did it.” “...emergency times like these we have to do what we have to do”

In other words according to Bill O’Reilly, suspend our Constitution and rule by law, ends justify means. Let political force and threat rule. As a former public school teacher his sometimes muddled thinking and collectivist tendencies may be understandable.

More than eighty years ago, G.K. Chesterton said compulsory public education’s purpose was to deprive common people of their commonsense. Appears it has happened to a segment of our public school teachers as well, including Bill O’Reilly.

Although his thinking has proven to be somewhat muddled at times, I am sure he is a decent and caring American who deserves our support. Listening to Bill O’Reilly and others of his flavor is similar to eating fish. Carefully pick out the meat. Don’t choke on the bones. But first one needs to be able to identify bones. That takes personal education. Then we need to educate others and stand up and speak out.

Is Bill O’Reilly a socialist? Of course not. Is our President Obama a socialist? Of course he is.

Either way that is not the problem. The problem? Too many Americans depending on the false promise “government shall supply all your need” instead of confessing and standing on the prayer “God shall supply all I need.”

“It will be an ideological war, a war of ideas. But great issues will hang upon the outcome: the fate of a culture and the eternal fate of souls. The culture of the West has adopted and promulgated anti-Christian belief and practice.” ____ Sydney Archbishop Peter Jensen

Be informed be involved. There are many areas of involvement available. First, become informed. Then, what can you do? Go to Blog Archive at upper right, click on May-11-08, “But What Can I Do?”

______ Michael E. Odell

Your thoughts and comments are welcome, most of the time. E-mail: odellmike@comcast.net