And the violations of Godwin’s Law begin:
A Republican congressman from Georgia said Monday he fears that President-elect Obama will establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist dictatorship.
“It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he’s the one who proposed this national security force,” Rep. Paul Broun said of Obama in an interview Monday with The Associated Press. “I’m just trying to bring attention to the fact that we may — may not, I hope not — but we may have a problem with that type of philosophy of radical socialism or Marxism.”
Broun cited a July speech by Obama that has circulated on the Internet in which the then-Democratic presidential candidate called for a civilian force to take some of the national security burden off the military.
“That’s exactly what Hitler did in Nazi Germany and it’s exactly what the Soviet Union did,” Broun said. “When he’s proposing to have a national security force that’s answering to him, that is as strong as the U.S. military, he’s showing me signs of being Marxist.”
I didn’t really even remember him mentioning a civilian security force, but the movement conservatives are all in a tizzy. Red State is just glad someone is speaking truth to power:
So we have some rhetoric that will be called “over the top” and “outrageous”. But we need men willing to step out there and get some media attention to them. And those in safe seats are just the candidates for it. So the Guerrilla Congress begins its shots at the Dear Leader’s Agenda and the best that one of the Simpletons comes up with is how “stupid” Governor Sarah Palin is? Come on.
It never ends.
Josh Hueco
Naaahhhh….
First they came for the plumbers…
Tom65
Meh. Let them wallow in ignorance. I want them to marginalize themselves.
Napoleon
This is going to be just like the Clinton years with the wingnuts, with the exception that I doubt Obama will have a bimbo eruption and I expect the Dems will push back much harder against this junk. That said, I hope stories about clowns like this make every paper and newscast in America just to remind everyone what the Republican party is all about.
Atanarjuat
Hmmm…. you were saying?
I wonder, will there be a standard uniform, too? I’ve heard that brown is considered to be a nice earth tone.
– A Country Surrounded and Cut Off
Tom
I say, keep it coming. These kind of wack-job scare tactics didn’t work in the election, and if they keep them up during Obama’s term(s), it’ll just further isolate the right-wing from the rest of the country.
Incertus
I just blogged about that as well–when Little Green Footballs is thinking it’s a little over the top, then you know the goddamn plane has crashed into the mountain.
anonocrat
OT, but after careful consideration of Calvinists4Conservatism, I am pretty sure it is a joke or a massive troll, prominent disclaimer notwithstanding. Yesterday’s post about rocket ships and futuristic space dreadnoughts clinched it for me. I don’t know whether the thread below came to the same conclusion or not.
If it is not a troll, it might be evidence of deep cognitive impairment, not just the ordinary know-nothingism that has animated my former party for the last decade or so. I know a lot of Republicans, and I am generally not impressed with their reasoning, but that site takes it to a level I’ve never seen before. It’s gotta be a joke.
I think you can take them off the Mock as Needed section of the blogroll, John. Either you’re feeding the trolls, or you are mocking people who have real problems functioning. Either way, it’s not change you can believe in.
Elvis Elvisberg
Reading "come on," and the rest of the comment, in the voice of Gob Bluth makes it a lot easier to tolerate.
Rick Taylor
Atanarujat, what are you talking about with these quotes? If this is a reference to Obama winning the election, then you’re being a hypocrite. After all, you were telling all us liberals how we should get behind President McCain when he won, we should put the country first, etc. Now when Bush won in 2004, I was crushed. I couldn’t believe we’d re-elected him after it was clear he’d lead us into a war on a completely specious basis. But it never even occurred to me to say were a nation under siege, because that would have been ridiculous. We’d had an election; Bush won. As appalled as I was, Bush’s election was certainly legitimate, and the nation certainly wasn’t under siege, and it certainly isn’t now.
Elvis Elvisberg
Oh, and sorry if this has already been seen around here, but Get Your War On addresses this point pretty well.
EarBucket
Technically, this is a fulfillment of Godwin’s Law, not a violation of it.
Napoleon
Why does anyone pay any attention whatsoever to Atanarujat?
Svensker
Obama has said a number of times that he likes the idea of universal service. Probably his GI Bill college-for-service is his first step toward same. Personally, I hate universal service — we’re already too enamored of the military and the Great and Glorious State.
But for Republicans who supported Bush’s Great & Glorious U.S. Empire Astride the Globe to suggest that Obama is the fascist marxist… The irony boggles.
Comrade Jake
Here’s the current text from change.gov:
That reads just like something the Nazi party would propose, particularly the tax credit for community service. /Rush
sickamore
So i’m a high school dropout and generally lazy, but before I became a shiftless ne’er-do-well waiting for my redistribution check because some company I worked for decided the price of doing business was no longer "economically viable", whatever that means, I did possess the funds to procure my inclusion into the small, but prestigious group of people who were allowed access to something we liked to call "Watchers of the History channel on Cable Television", or WOTHCOCT.
Some other particularly nefarious similarities to Hitler and Stalin to Obama, in no particular order, are:
They all used the media, the wha? The media. They all used it to get their "message" out.
They are notorious for allowing the use of automobiles. Sometimes for the common folk even(Damn thee Socialistic Communistic Pig Dogs!). They even found transportation in general to be in the interest of the "Common Good"(or is it Commune Good? Maoist Hippies!)
Another often neglected aspect of their Reigns of Terror was their conspicuous use of clothing. They draped fabric across their bodies to hide their contempt for the Bourgeoisie and their desire to become dictators by exploiting the workers they rode to power on(Cuban Missles!).
All we have left is to watch for the hair between Obama’s nose and upper lip to grow into a defiantly distracting and distorted dermal adornment that will signify his true intentions as a socislamofascist-redistributerroristocrat(Spanish Flies!)
Comrade Jake
@Napoleon:
It’s like punching the clown. You remember those blow-up clowns with the weighted bottoms from when we were kids? You’d punch the clown and he’d pop right back up? That’s Atanarjuat, in a nutshell. Some folks like to play whack a dummy.
John Cole
Pretty clearly the old text was just sloppy writing, and what will be required is service if you intend to get the tax credit, not service across the board.
Christ, wingnuts. Is that the best you can do?
Regardless, after years of idolizing the military, cheering torture and the surveillance state, why would any of you frothing nutters have a problem with compulsory service, anyway. If that was what he was advocating, you stupid pricks wouldn’t be where I went to try to stop it- I would go to the people who have had consistent records. Folks like Greenwald, the ACLU, and, well, here.
Wankers.
Face
This "American Gestapo" meme is ALL OVER the righty blogs. It seems they are orgasmic over the opportunity to link Obama to Hitler. In fact, you simply cannot find a discussion of Obama’s plan without a reference to Hitler and Nazis.
This is going to be a looooooooooong 4 years.
Atanarjuat
Rick Taylor said:
Just expressing my own ongoing sense of shock and dismay. I think don’t think you need me to tell you that not all of us see things the same way. That’s true diversity.
Rick, you’re one of the few liberals I’ve encountered who’ve actually stated that Bush’s 2004 election win was legitimate. Mostly, I’ve heard Diebold, Diebold, voter purging, Diebold… oh, and did I mention Diebold? But thanks all the same for conceding the factual truth.
As for the nation being under siege, I’m just anticipating the expected chaos and strife that will ensue from Obama’s various radical agendas (at least those that have been stated so far, which are already bad enough).
– Country First.
Napoleon
@Comrade Jake:
I loved my blow up clown when I was a kid, but it had more of a personality then that troll/spoof.
Incertus
@John Cole: Well, it’s compulsory service controlled by the wrong people, you know. It’s military in the hands of Islamocommieatheists who want to let people marry box turtles and drain us of our vital fluids. And you know that they’re not going to count Warcraft experience when it comes to determining who will be the officers in this new service.
Brian J
Listen, if I’m going to be killed in some sort of death chamber, can they just tell me when? If it’s going to be some time down the line, I may continue with my diet. If it’s going to be soon, it’s back to well done french fries for me.
Seriously, would someone from the Obama camp let me know? That, my friends, would be change that I could believe in!
Atanarjuat
Comrade Jake
The "setting a goal" part was originally "require."
The Great Redistributionist simply softened the language so that we’d find the slide into leftist authoritarianism somehow more acceptable. Still just as deceptive and starkly portentous of Obama’s true agenda for America.
– Country First.
Atanarjuat
Napoleon said:
You mean like you are right now? You’ve just answered your own question, though I think you’ll fail to realize how.
– Country First.
Personal Designation
I love the notion of We The People myself. To hell will all artificial political entities created in the minds of men. Show me an agenda and I’ll show you a politician with tax (read armed robbery) spending "tips".
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Right-wingers are only afraid of this 4-H type community service because these kids WON’T be picking up guns and shooting people. We have the projects of Hope, the right desires projects of Fear and Hope KILLS Fear.
nabalzbbfr
This is only one of the ominous portents of the upcoming Obama regime. Plans are also underway to declare a national holiday commemorating Obama. Talk about a cult of personality!
Comrade Jake
I think some of the trolls should include disclaimers in their posts that they are no joke.
Incertus
It can’t be a coincidence that all the trolls are out today, on a federal holiday. They must all be government employees who feel guilty for suckling at the public teat.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Not all government workers are right-wingers. You may just be insulting your own side here and not even realize it.
Atanarjuat
Incertus, I’m truly enjoying your conspiracy theories.
In fact, I’d love to subscribe to your newsletter, as well as receiving any back issues you might have.
– Country First.
Personal Designation
A kawinky dink? what are the chances anything can happen by chance… not a chance.
Sovereignty first!
jon
Obama is a genius. Next he’ll propose universal health care but also simultaneously propose the mandatory wearing of short shorts in the NBA. The wingnuts and the country will go crazy at the idea that we’ll see Allen Iverson’s thighs, thinking it’s a plot to make America gay(er), and go on an all-out Drudge-alarm alert-mode Defcon-Eleventy assault on the proposal.
In the end, we’ll all have healthcare and basketball players will dress like 1930s tennis stars.
GSD
Ah, the guerrilla congress.
Can these assbags please stop giving themselves phony military bonafides for one day?
They are always great warriors in their own little minds.
More sandbags and Cheetos to the frontlines!
-GSD
bago
Because "setting a goal" and "require" is such a slight difference.
timb
Michael Savage has been whining for a week that Obama maintained we need a "civilian security force" equal to the military force. That’s right, he, the lunatics at Red State, and that tool of a GOP congressman are reading this
as meaning a creation of literal force of a private army, not to mention they are untroubled by the existence of REAL private armies (Blackwater leaps to mind), instead of the obvious menaing: using both law enforcement and intelligence tools AND the military to achieve "national security objectives."
I wondered how the Goldsteins, Ericksons, Savages, and Hannitys would take their drubbing. Working the polls on election day for Obama showed me, anecdotally, that the seething angry, ranting types were McCain voters (or so they confessed). But in the days since, I’m seriously worried that the 29%ers are just ungovernable. They actually believed all the propaganda and still do.
Think about that, literally half of the Republican vote consists of people who will refuse to participate in their own country: I’ve heard from some schoolmates talk about hiding money and refusing to pay increased taxes (by the way, was the Clinton administration’s tax rate so terrible? I remember quite a few rich bastards during the 90’s) and filibustering every cabinet position, etc.
It strikes me as entire movement of low information, highly emotive citizens who refuse to believe there is anything more important than membership in an ideological cadre.
I used to tease the cons that in the "War on Terror" they were more at war with democrats and other apostates than they were with Muslim fundamentalism. It seems they finally they agreed with me.
Dudes, it was a joke, not a lifestyle.
John PM
Yes, because a national security force made up of civilians is a lot more dangerous than stationing actual troops in the United States or privitizing many of our security functions to Blackwater and their ilk.
After reading this, I had to look up this bozo. He has a four-part test for all legislation on his Congressional website:
Interestingly, when you go to his reelction website, 1) and 2) are reversed. However, I think we all know that Mr. Broun’s analysis begins and ends with 1); if a piece of legislation is moral/right, then it is by definition Constitutional (under the invisible Christian Article of the Constitution) and Necessary, and of course it is affordable because … mumble, mumble … tax cuts …
bago
All hail the Sovereign.
Grumpy Code Monkey
@EarBucket:
Godwin’s Law is descriptive, not proscriptive, so one cannot "violate" it at all.
Interestingly, I’ve noticed a pattern that suggests a corollary to Godwin’s Law: in a discussion about Hitler and/or Nazis, the probability that 9/11 will be mentioned approaches 1.
Sapheriel
When Obama talks about Civilian National Security Force, he’s not talking about anything new. He explained it in an interview with the Military Times:
Comrade Kevin
@jon:
In many ways, these people are indistinguishable from old hard-line Stalinists.
AkaDad
Obama gave a speech in GERMANY!
Enough said.
Singularity
In the end, what the right-wingers think doesn’t matter for two years. Obama will implement his plan, it will succeed, and we will pick up at least another couple of Senators and a handful more representatives in 2010. Then Conservatives can enjoy Karl Rove’s Permanent Republican Minority. Eight years of Obama might not be enough to undo all of the damage done by Reagan and the Bushes, but he can undo a lot of it.
Meanwhile, I will sit back and laugh hysterically at the ridiculous trolls trying to make the case that Hitler was a "Socialist", just like Obama! By the way, did you know that China is a Republic, just like the United States? It says so right in the full name of their country, The People’s REPUBLIC of China.
The best advice I can give you trolls right now is to treat it like bad weather, just relax and enjoy it.
Faux News
I have no idea. AtanaTroll isn’t even a good Troll. I just skip over his/her/its postings anyway. Including whatever mindless drivel he/she/it will will say about this posting.
tigrismus
This guy is the representative for Athens, GA, one of the most liberal areas in the state. The 10th district bypasses nearby towns to connect Athens with conservative Augusta and thereby minimize the influence of liberals; typical, but depressing.
– A Country in Cut-offs.
Scott
Holy moley, 50 hours of community service in a year? Has there ever been a more horrifying hardship visited upon our junior high and high school students?
Why are the Republicans thinking this is so horrible? Do they think Obama is going to field an unstoppable army of teenagers? Are they just opposed to kids volunteering around town?
Comrade Scrutinizer
It’s like when you walk down a hall and see a big red button on the wall, with a sign over it that says "DO NOT IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCES PUSH THE BIG RED BUTTON."
Beej
To recap:
Obama wins a broad election victory by promising to bring people together.
The Republicans meet to decide how to attack the new administration.
The Republicans expect this to win them votes in the next election.
Does the Republican party really want to destroy itself, or is it just too dumb to notice?
Atanarjuat
Faux News, I find your loud braying on what a "troll" I am highly amusing.
Take your own advice and skip over any mention of me since I so deeply disturb you. Because you know, "ignoring" someone by referring to them continuously might be a bit self-defeating.
– Country First.
jake 4 that 1
An African-American Hitler. Wow.
Verily this is the Land of Opportunity.
– Country Joe & The Fish First
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Atanarjuat:
You are teh awesome, man. I appreciate you, even if others don’t.
– Country Fried Steak
Mike from DC
@Atanarjuat:
There are plenty of liberals, Markos Moulitsas of Dailykos fame being one of them, who accept the 2004 vote as legitimate (this may be an overstatement, I’m referring to Markos’s post saying that he will delete any discussion of the election being stolen right after the 2004 election, and I may be inferring too much). Arguing over those sorts of problems wouldn’t have gotten the democrats any closer to winning an election. There were serious problems with the Democrats’ strategy and policy positions that had to be resolved, and the dems would never have done so if they really were so focused on Diebold Diebold Diebold, as you claim.
That’s not to say that there weren’t problems with that election, or those voting machines, but wasting time blaming Kerry’s (or even Gore’s) loss on voting machine errors misses the point of improving the message or the strategy of the Democratic party.
sickamore
@Atanarjuat: "Just expressing my own ongoing sense of shock and dismay. I think don’t think you need me to tell you that not all of us see things the same way. That’s true diversity."
A sense of shock when you were so sure of a McCain victory and equally sure that it is in everyone’s best interest to follow along whatever path an elected President chooses for the entire country?
Now you wish to express your diversity of thought that went challenged for nearly 8 years as anti-American and unpatriotic as well as minimized as "sour grapes" when your favorite "team" won? Funny that.
A Country in bumpkin
bootlegger
Obviously these wingnuts are proving worthy of their name, armed with their keyboards and tinfoil helmets they’ll have fun running the Republican party into oblivion.
I am truly concerned, however, with the White Nationalists, who we haven’t heard much from over the past year. Surely they are up to some kind of mischief, they’ve been waiting for a chance like this to prove the inferiority of the Other races. I take their relative silence to mean that something is in the works, probably not centralized, but something that will try to tap into all the vitriol we see coming from the wingnuts like Attatroll. When they strike it will be violent and will sweep a lot of people like Attatroll into it.
Forget the wingnuts, keep your eye on the truly crazy and dangerous folks.
–Country Ham
TenguPhule
Let us all take a moment to remember Atanarjuat was in favor of ‘dealing with liberals’ when he thought McCain would be in charge of the camps.
How quickly the worm turns.
shortstop
Few realize that that well-known Marxist, Adolf Hitler, was also a Muslim and Black Power proponent. Also, he was gay, but that kind of goes without saying.
Josh Hueco
@Scott:
Shhh…don’t tell them ‘community service’ will mean going into the ghetto and handing out 40s and KFC buckets full of cash to "those" people. Or teaching kindergartners how to have sex.
DonkeyKong
From the Wikipedia definition of Cranks:
Cranks overestimate their own knowledge and ability, and underestimate that of acknowledged experts.
Cranks insist that their alleged discoveries are urgently important.
Cranks rarely if ever acknowledge any error, no matter how trivial.
Cranks love to talk about their own beliefs, often in inappropriate social situations, but they tend to be bad listeners, and often appear to be uninterested in anyone else’s experience or opinions.
Some cranks exhibit a lack of academic achievement, in which case they typically assert that academic training in the subject of their crank belief is not only unnecessary for discovering "the truth", but actively harmful because they believe it "poisons" the minds by teaching falsehoods.
Others greatly exaggerate their personal achievements, and may insist that some alleged achievement in some entirely unrelated area of human endeavor implies that their cranky opinion should be taken seriously.
Some cranks claim vast knowledge of any relevant literature, while others claim that familiarity with previous work is entirely unnecessary; regardless, cranks inevitably reveal that whether or not they believe themselves to be knowledgeable concerning relevant matters of fact, mainstream opinion, or previous work, they are not in fact well-informed concerning the topic of their belief.
In addition, many cranks seriously misunderstand the mainstream opinion to which they believe that they are objecting,
stress that they have been working out their ideas for many decades, and claim that this fact alone entails that their belief cannot be dismissed as resting upon some simple error,
compare themselves with Galileo or Copernicus, implying that the mere unpopularity of some belief is in itself evidence of plausibility,
claim that their ideas are being suppressed by secret intelligence organizations, mainstream science, powerful business interests, or other groups which, they allege, are terrified by the possibility of their allegedly revolutionary insights becoming widely known,
appear to regard themselves as persons of unique historical importance.
Cranks who contradict some mainstream opinion in some highly technical field, such as mathematics or physics, almost always exhibit a marked lack of technical ability,
misunderstand or fail to use standard notation and terminology, ignore fine distinctions which are essential to correctly understanding mainstream belief.
That is, cranks tend to ignore any previous insights which have been proven by experience to facilitate discussion and analysis of the topic of their cranky claims; indeed, they often assert that these innovations obscure rather than clarify the situation.
Atanarjuat
TenguPhule said:
I think you have me thoroughly confused with someone else.
Then again, it’s a favorite tactic of the far left to take the demented scribblings of some fringe nutcases and paint the entire conservative movement with a brush the size of the Empire State Building.
Truth be told, I don’t want any of you leftists "deal with" in any camps, "re-education" or otherwise. I just would like the balance of power to tilt back toward the right, which would be the natural order of things. As it is, it looks like the nation might be foolishly exposing itself to further terrorist attacks in the near future, especially once the Great Redistributionist radically scales back American military operations in the Middle East.
– A Country Hanging On by a Fingernail
bootlegger
Whassamatter? Chicken?
–Constitution First!
Damned at Random
I suspect a lot of the opposition to community service involves taking impressionable young people outside of the parent’s comfort zone. The most extreme manifestation of this is the home school movement among Christian conservatives. We tend to live more and more in economically segregated suburbs with limited exposure to the scary "other."
When I was a sweet, naive 18-year-old, I did some GOTV work for McGovern (I tend to get involved in elections during hot wars) in the inner city. I had gone to segregated schools, but was still outside my "comfort zone" in this majority black and very poor area. To my suprise, I was treated with great kindness, offered iced tea at about every third house and God-blessed repeatedly and with great sincerity. I realized that "bad" neighborhoods were home to many good people and the scaremongers lost me for life.
A robust national service program for young people is the modern Republican party’s worst nightmare.
Atanarjuat
bootlegger, I’m sorry to break it to you, but your bizarre wish that any White Nationalist parties would find Republicans or any conservatives natural allies is simply that — bizarre.
These fringe racist groups detest both major political parties. If you peruse the National Alliance web site, for example, you’ll see that they hold the GOP with the same contempt as Democrats.
Keep painting with that broad brush, though. You’re only painting yourself into that blinkered, partisan corner of yours.
– Country First.
Atanarjuat
Damned at Random said:
No, it’s that whole mandatory volunteerism paradox that’s being rightfully questioned.
How can it be volunteering when it’s mandatory?
Unless the Great Redistributionist modifies this so-called community service program to something that’s not even the slightest bit mandatory or required, you’ll find that opposition will continue to grow, not slacken, as more Americans learn of what’s in store for their children under the Obama regime.
– Country First.
bootlegger
@Atanarjuat: You are correct for once (or like a broken clock, twice a day), that they have no use for the formal Republican party. They are, however, too few in number to cause any real damage. They will therefore rely on energizing some people who are "scared for their country" into doing their "patriotic duty" to save America. It is likely that at first many who join them will not even realize with whom they fight, and no doubt many who will. But these aren’t just my mad ramblings, peruse the website you cite and note how many times this type of strategy is referenced. It first came to my attention when I read "The Turner Diaries", which as you might know is their revolution’s bible.
I’m not painting Republicans as racists, most are not (and some dems of course are). What the white nationalists will find, however, is a group of citizens afraid of their "commie" government and ready for action. Some will join the fight as "allies", others as full-fledged believers.
–Constitution First
Catsy
Seriously. I mean, don’t get me wrong, high school may be two decades removed for me, but I still get my hackles up at the thought of compulsory anything. For one thing, it strikes me as unenforceable short of imposing penalties that I would aggressively oppose, which would practically guarantee that shirking this "duty" becomes a standard part of teenage rebellion. I think a better idea is to provide incentives, and that definitely seems like the direction they’re going.
Still, 50 hours a year? Bitch, please. We’re talking about an hour a week of helping your community. If you can’t find it in you to do that, even with government-funded incentives and opportunities, then frankly you’re exactly what’s wrong with our youth.
RobW
Which explains their unanimous support for Ron Paul.
lucslawyer
"Then again, it’s a favorite tactic of the far left to take the demented scribblings of some fringe nutcases and paint the entire conservative movement with a brush the size of the Empire State Building."
LMAO….that is hilarious on so many levels…
gwangung
Well, since a lot of high schools are having this sort of compulsory service, not sure how helpful OR harmful it will be.
Ian
OK, I’ll be the contrarian. This is insane, but there’s a kernel of truth.
The power of the executive branch has been slowly accumulating under both parties for quite some time. Nixon and Bush II were by far — by far –the worst offenders, but not the only ones. (e.g. Clinton’s push for the line-item veto)
If Obama pushes back against this trend — renouncing the unitary executive theory (crazy as it is, it’s been espoused by the previous president and needs to be renounced), reducing surveillance, prosecuting past offenders, renouncing the power to kidnap, secretly imprison and torture, and in general pushing back against the incredible damage Bush II has done — then give him a ticker tape parade through every city in the country. He might actually do some of these things; he’s a good man and I live in hope. If he does not, he’s part of the problem, part of that trend which makes the US progressively less democratic.
Sirkowski
If you’re gonna make accusations of Marxism, don’t use the Gestapo. Say the KGB, the NKVD, the GPU or the Cheka.
These guys are all mixed up.
Funkhauser
I have to object to the conflation of "Marxism" with "army." You gotta be pretty uneducated about what Marxism is to make that leap.
Nylund
The guys at Red State can sleep comfortably knowing that they worked oh so hard to make sure the president has the authority to listen to their phone calls without a warrant.
Faux News
I really hope the stupid Antanwhatshisname Troll did not respond to my posting. I skip EVERY response it puts on this site.
Just a reminder to it…post a reply I don’t look at it. Ever.
Buh Bye Faux Troll
Personal Designation
oh right. . . literal? figurative? euphemism? hyperbole? simile? hypothetical?
Never mind what Obama said (without qualifiers) because being in love with the dream makes more sense than sticky congressional page facts that go well with Cheetos, lofty goal setting, and sand in your shoes diplomacy.
While there are many theoretical and practical differences among the various forms of Marxism, most forms of Marxism share these principles:
* an attention to the material conditions of people’s lives and social relations among people
* a belief that people’s consciousness of the conditions of their lives reflects these material conditions and relations
* an understanding of class in terms of differing relations of production and as a particular position within such relations
* an understanding of material conditions and social relations as historically malleable
* a view of history according to which class struggle, the evolving conflict between classes with opposing interests, structures each historical period and drives historical change
* a sympathy for the working class or proletariat
* and a belief that the ultimate interests of workers best match those of humanity in general
The main points of contention among Marxists are the degree to which they are committed to a workers’ revolution as the means of achieving human emancipation and enlightenment, and the actual mechanism through which such a revolution might occur and succeed. Marxism is correctly but not exhaustively described as a variety of Socialism. Some Marxists, however, argue that no actual state has ever fully realized Marxist principles; other Marxists, such as Autonomists claim Marxist principles cannot be realized in any state construct seen through the 20th Century and would necessitate a reconceptualization of the notion of state itself.
"We can build a new world, all we need is your m o n e y"
(sung to the tune of The Little Mermaid’s "A Whole New World")
$ympathy for the dishevel. . .
The next 4 years will be interesting. Not as interesting as the 9/11 Bush inside job, but nonetheless interesting.
TenguPhule
Atanarjuat’s future, a boot on his neck, his tongue cleaning its shiny blackness….forever.
And bonus points for trying to deny prior pre-election postings as ‘someone else’.
Funkhauser
Oooh! You cut and posted from Wikipedia! Good for you!
gryph
You don’t remember this? He talked about it in October ’07 at Google, too, as I recall.
They’re getting in a tizzy over THIS? Are you SERIOUS? The "civilian counterpart to the military" was basically a big expansion of the Peace Corps! The whole point was that we need a carrot to balance the stick. There’s no reason to think we shouldn’t be just as good at civil assistance as we are at military destruction, and if you’ll accept that, then it’s a short step from there to ask why we shouldn’t have a means to bring that power to bear in international diplomacy.
The idea that we should be scared of any such "force" is ludicrous. It was never spoken of as nor intended to be any sort of policing or militaristic body – much, in fact, like the Peace Corps.