http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/11/militant_socialism_in_america.html
Despite his “colossal economic failures” and a national debt “above $16 trillion” Barack Obama was given a second term. It is not because the conservative message was wrong; it is because Obama is a master of marketing his message. Seductive and false advertising as well as outright bribery marked this man’s first term and will certainly be the hallmark of his second.
He mesmerized a misinformed or ill-informed public, convincing them that his promises would result in a piece of the pie for them. Thus, currently, “…more than half the population — 50 percent plus one — is dependent upon government benefits. For the past four years, the Obama administration has created a Franco-German welfare state whose sole purpose is to forge a majority political coalition wedded to the Democratic Party.” The explosion of food stamps, the bailouts — all translated into an ‘I got mine, not gonna’ worry about anybody else’ mentality that has ruptured this country into two camps. There are those who pay and there are those who expect the payment without any effort on their part. As David Limbaugh has written in Crimes Against Liberty, “in his monomania for socialism, Obama will brook no challenge” (388).
Which is why the 1952 piece by Elia Kazan titled “Where I Stand” needs to see the light of day again. Kazan wrote it following his appearance before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA) in 1952. It is particularly instructive as we now enter the new world of Obama socialism.
Kazan notes that
Communist activities confront the people of this country with an unprecedented and exceptionally tough problem. That is, how to protect ourselves from a dangerous and alien conspiracy and still keep the free, open, healthy way of life that gives us self-respect.
The facts I have are 16 years out of date, but they supply a small piece of background to the graver picture of communism today.
I was taken in by the Hard Times version of the communists’ recruiting technique. They claimed to have a cure for depressions…. I joined the Party late in the summer of 1934. I got out a year and a half later.
I have no spy stories to tell because I saw no spies. Nor did I understand, at that time, any opposition between American and Russian national interest. It was not even clear to me in 1936 that the American Communist Party was abjectly taking its order from the Kremlin.
What I learned was the minimum that anyone must learn who puts his head into the noose of Party ‘discipline.’ The Communists automatically violated the daily practices of democracy to which I was accustomed. They attempted to control thought and suppress personal opinion. They tried to dictate personal conduct. They habitually distorted and disregarded and violated the truth. All this was crudely opposite to their claims of ‘democracy’ and the ‘scientific approach.’
To be a member of the Communist Party is to have a taste of the police state. It is a diluted taste, but it is bitter and unforgettable.
Why did I not tell this story sooner? I was …held back by a piece of specious reasoning …which goes like this. ‘You may hate the Communists, but you must not attack them or expose them, because if you do you are attacking the right to hold unpopular opinions and you are joining the people who attack civil liberties.’
I have thought soberly about this. It is, simply, a lie. Secrecy serves the Communists. At the other pole, it serves to silence…voices… [who] have allowed themselves to become associated with or silenced by the Communists.
It also left me with the passionate conviction that we must never let the Communists get away with the pretense that they stand for the very things which they kill in their own countries.
I am talking about free speech, a free press, the rights of property… and above all, individual rights. I value peace, too, when it is not bought at the price of fundamental decencies.