More on whether Obama is far left. I don't mean to beat a dead horse or to prolong the discussion unnecessarily. I perfectly understand that to Europeans (and even to many Americans), Obama is NOT considered a socialist, or even unusually leftist.
My goal here is not to prove that Obama's ideas are "socialist". My only goal is to compare Obama's words to the words of America's Founding Fathers, to show that his ideas can with all validity be considered "radical" to the extent that they differ from the intent of our Founding Fathers and from the basic tenets of our Constitution. Again, I am not asking that anyone *agree* with the words of our Founding Fathers, only that you admit the degee to which these words differ from those of Obama.
Obama (when questioned if owning a sucessful plumbing business, grossing more than $250,000/year, would result in higher taxes): It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance for success too. My attitude is that if the economy's good for folks from the bottom up, it's gonna be good for everybody ... I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody.
Thomas Jefferson: To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.
Thomas Jefferson: A wise and frugal government shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.
James Madison: The government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the [federal] government.
James Madison: I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.
John Adams: The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If ‘Thou shalt not covet’ and ‘Thou shalt not steal’ were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free.
Benjamin Franklin: When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.
