The Conservative Revolution

When a friend emailed this policy paper to me today, I was shocked by the degree of populist pandering by the Obama campaign. His ideas about taking money from one person or group and giving it to another person or group are not new. But the type of redistribution in such a blatant fashion — taking from oil company profits and giving the money directly to the masses in order to buy votes — is breathtaking.

The Politico reports,

“Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Friday announced an “Emergency Economic Plan” that would give families a stimulus check of $1,000 each, funded in part by what his presidential campaign calls “windfall profits from Big Oil.”

America is not a culture, nor has it ever been, where this kind of socialist scheme is accepted. “Upset that you can’t pay your bills? That’s okay, just use force to take money from someone that has more money than you.” Class warfare is rampant in the Democrat Party, but this Obama “Emergency Economic Plan” goes beyond the normal rhetoric and crosses the line into something dangerous.

Republics fall with such policies, driven by ambitious politicians that play up the victimhood of the people and focus their anger on convenient scapegoats. Most businesses have a profit margin of around 7-9%, and Exxon Mobil falls within that average. If Obama and his socialist allies are so worried about “windfall profits” perhaps they should impose a tax on liberal college professors who make six figures, and give the money to students to buy books. Maybe they should implement a windfall profits tax on trial lawyers who make more than $80,000 a year and give the money to the jurors who get paid next to nothing.

The Obama campaign truly frightens me in its demagogic quest to do whatever it takes to win the election. If this man gets elected, hold onto your wallets, and be ready to get mugged by the federal government.

The other day at the gym I saw a guy wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt. I had to ask him why he was proudly brandishing the image of a communist killer. I kindly asked him to explain his gym attire and he responded that Che was his “idol.” Interesting choice of words, I thought. Che certainly is a secular god of the far left around the world.

The man was middle-aged, with a slight Spanish accent. He offered that he was from Bolivia and during his undergraduate years “we all followed Che.” I asked him why he and his cohorts followed a man who was a communist revolutionary and chief executioner for Fidel Castro. Well, he might have been a murderer, admitted the man, but he was dedicated to his ideals. Yes, well, his ideals were brutal and inhumane, I responded. The man didn’t argue, but merely added that there was something mystical about Che. Again, the religious imagery was hard to escape. Yes, Che is a mystical figure among leftist students, professors and coffee shop pseudo-intellectuals. But why would they support someone who practiced and preached violence, not peace? How would they treat someone wearing a Hitler or Mussolini shirt to the gym? Why do left-wing murderers and tyrants get absolution of their sins by the leftist secular elites?

After the conversation I at least knew the answer to one question. This man clearly knew very little about the life and times of Che Guevara. He didn’t defend the murder, nor the failed system of communism that Che espoused. Rather, he just wore the t-shirt because Che seemed cool and everyone else around him thought so to. I guess that’s okay, but at least he now knows that not everyone thinks Che is cool. Hopefully he will think about our discussion the next time he takes that t-shirt out of his closet to put it on. In fact, I hope he decides never to wear that t-shirt again.

Perhaps the power of social reinforcement that encouraged him to celebrate Che can be utilized to halt the celebration.