Is Socialism the New Communism?

Socialist (ecru?) is the new Communist (red)

I just finished watching the debates (the nine o clock version), and then good choir member that I am went to the Huffington Post to see what others were saying.

One of the links I went to there kept me up way later than I meant to be. It was a link to an hour long special on Fox about Obama, and all his really scary connections!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_HZMD97nMw&feature=related

It has six segments, please enjoy if you want to check it out.

The thing that really resonated with me was how the words socialist and socialism kept coming up. These terms were assumed to be, understood as equivalent to, …. I don’t know what but something that everyone would instinctively perceive as horrifying!

Now I personally don’t have a pet ideology. As far as I can see the problem with all of them is application, anything could work if we were all on the same page DUH! But we don’t even live in (or agree on) a Democracy, (as you know its a republic.)

My question is; what is so bad or scary about socialism? It seems like the word is being groomed to take the place of “communism” as the awful ogre, “there is no reason to think about it because it eats children and rapes widows,” and once the word is spoken all attention and energy must be spent deflecting association with it, instead of dealing with the real topic at hand.

I grant I may be over reacting, but I gotta say this is what I seeing coming down the pike. (where does that come from “come down the pike”?)

This post is my small attempt to say “hey lets not go there this time, lets stay focused on what matters and think about what makes sense, let’s not close up shop on an idea just because it gets called something (socialist, communist, conservative, radical, modernist, relational, abstract, intellectual, naïve… you get the idea! )

This last part of this post should be really neutral, and yet a call to action; very understated and at the same time poetic and moving. I don’t know how to write that, please feel free to send me your submissions!


Type rest of the post here