Baracktology

When a fellow writes a book entitled Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, then inquisitive folks naturally seek some idea of which dreams of his father he might have inherited? Or as Junior put it,

"It was into my father's image .. that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself."

Being tediously short of specifics as he is (and understandably as we'll see), for peeping into his father's dreams we're left with pop's paper, Problems Facing Our Socialism, published July, 1965 in the prestigious East African Journal. Peep in yourself here and you'll find Barack H. Obama, Sr.:

on page 29, advocating communal ownership of land and confiscation of private lands,

on pages 32-33, advocating nationalization of European and Asian owned businesses with control of them being handed over to the "indigenous" black population,

on page 30, saying "there is no limit to taxation if the benefits derived from public services by society measure up to the cost in taxation which they have to pay",

on page 31, adding "Theoretically, there is nothing that can stop the government from taxing 100% of income so long as the people get benefits from the government commensurate with their income which is taxed.",

on page 26, arguing that as opposed to "scientific socialism", the "African Socialism" in place deviates but "a little" from capitalism.,

on page 28, advocating an "active" program to achieve a classless society by removing economic disparities,

on pages 29-30, suggesting "...eliminate power structures that have been built through excessive accumulation..." and "...so long as we maintain free enterprise one cannot deny that some will accumulate more than others...".

As for the beneficiary of these dreams, the only Marxist thought slipping out I'm aware of dealt with those economically distressed Pennsylvanians "clinging to religion", a subtle yet folksy twist on Karl Marx's socio-economic view that religion was the "opium of the people". As noted previously in this forum, Marx held that religion was little more and nothing less than the juice, the high, the fix, the societal manifestation of material realities and economic injustice (see page 28 above).

So, there you have it...and by the way, Baracktology should not be confused with proctology despite the pain being centralized in the same general area.

thanks for a good laugh, I so enjoy Republicans this election year...never seen them so scared.

I'd suggest you learn the meaning of the work attributes. Compare that to the political policies that Barak sr. wanted to put into play in his own country, one that has suffered for years from the effects of colonialism.....do you think that the policies favored by his father would somehow have been part of the son's DNA?

I don't suppose you voted for Gore or Kerry because of Bush's familial ties to the Nazis, did you?

Get used to the words "President Barak Obama" and hearing "Hail to the Chief" immediately afterwards.

Actually if you want some fun...get Stayin' to quote PRESCOTT BUSH, Dubya's granddaddy on...

Planned Parenthood.

See if the same standard applies.

it was about dreams inherited.

You shouldn't confuse the two because they start with a "d".

Indeed their desperation is showing.

So now we have a 44 year old article from a father who abandoned his son and we're supposed to believe that the son supports something that was written when he was 2 one hundred percent? Based on what? The GOP's desperate need to paint anyone who disagrees with them as a radical Marxist in order to distract the voters from how badly they've governed this nation for the past 8 years?

"It was into my father's image .. that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself."

I'd doubt that Barak sees that political policies that might be a good idea in a post-colonial nation would be applicable to the US.

Let's hope so...however we should agree to distinguish, you and I, that political "policies", as you refer to them, are situational, meaning in conformance, usually, with the here and now.

Whereas political "ideology" , as in dreams or goals, are universal in nature, seeking application wherever and whenever, possible or not.

Agreed?

I've seen no reason to believe that the political ideology of the father was adopted by the son.

Dreams may be limited to the generic wish to do good for one's country. The implementation of those wishes is what is subject to debate.

middleview:

I've seen no reason to believe that the political ideology of the father was adopted by the son.

Dreams may be limited to the generic wish to do good for one's country. The implementation of those wishes is what is subject to debate.

Again, is Dubya the same kind of Republican as Granddad Prescott.....or Herbert Walker-41? No....but seemingly Obama is "just like dad".

Why?

Dammit...I didn't write Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, he did. And I would imagine it's his title too.

Sorry....I sure didn't mean to tax your faculties, as a conservative I believe in low taxes. Nothing I can do about it now though. You might look into whether or not the government has anymore rebates scheduled....start with the the Department of Education, because somebody sure as hell overpaid.

Hmmmm, let's see now. The Walker and Bush families both made money from the Nazis, even after December 1941. It would seem that they valued making a buck more than they did the welfare of their country.....and you see some similarity with "W"?

Stayin'Arrive:

As a conservative I believe in low taxes.

Why not just have no taxes whatsoever? That could be done.

Stayin'Arrive:

Dammit...I didn't write Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, he did. And I would imagine it's his title too.

The part you're missing is that if you want to claim that Obama agrees with something his father wrote over four decades ago, you'll have to do more than just cite the title of his book. Like maybe opening the book and trying to find some passages where he directly cites those statements you and agrees with them.

C'mon, other conservatives have read the book and tried to cherrypick passages to pain Obama as a wild-eyed marxist. By just going with the title, you're looking lazier than most.

Here's what I don't get - you're afraid of Barack Obama. Despite the fact that the vicious, corrupt climate of American politics forces even the most leftist candidate to do a hard right turn whenever within sniffing distance of power, you think somehow this guy is a threat to democracy.

But here's what I really don't get. Your country is being torn apart by forces that have nothing - nothing at all - to do with marxist, socialism, liberals, whatever. Free market, ultranationalist puritans have ruled your country for the entire course of the 20th century. Your president is a fanatical conservative. Even Clinton was right of bush when it came to free market economics. Massive multinational corporations with GDP's larger than most third world nations buy your elected representatives by the bucketful, six men control the entire news output of the country - all of whom are players with heavy investments in arms industries, among other government contracts. Your government's finances is deliberately being driven into debt in order to keep policy welded firmly to the interests of Wall Street. Halliburton alone has collected billions of taxpayer dollars that I promise you will not be reinvested among the average taxpayers of the country. You guys fret about communist dictatorship (as do I) yet you are totally blind to the government contractor dictatorship which dominates your country as surely as any Soviet bureaucracy. These are all right wing policies. Gingrich, DeLay, Cheney, Bush, Rove, Wolfowitz, and on and on - these guys are married into the corporate mafia which has undermined democracy and laid waste to any kind of political or economic education for the average citizen. Why doesn't it bother you that Bush hangs out with the Saudis, theocratic dictators worse than even Iran? Why doesn't it bother you that the divide between rich and poor is the most consistently growing economic indicator since the demise of Keynesian economcis in the 1970's? How the hell does the right wing gain your support when they steal from you constantly?