Why Obama's the Least Socialistic President in Modern History (And That's a Shame)

[Octafish]

3. A concerted, organized effort was made to keep America from following Social Democracies of Europe.

From an American commie intellectual and patriot:

Capitalism s Self-inflicted Apocalypse

Michael Parenti

EXCERPT...

The present economic crisis, however, has convinced even some prominent free-marketeers that something is gravely amiss. Truth be told, capitalism has yet to come to terms with several historical forces that cause it endless trouble: democracy, prosperity, and capitalism itself, the very entities that capitalist rulers claim to be fostering.

Plutocracy vs. Democracy

Let us consider democracy first. In the United States we hear that capitalism is wedded to democracy, hence the phrase, “capitalist democracies.” In fact, throughout our history there has been a largely antagonistic relationship between democracy and capital concentration. Some eighty years ago Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis commented, “We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.” Moneyed interests have been opponents not proponents of democracy.

SNIP...

It is only in countries where capitalism has been reined in to some degree by social democracy that the populace has been able to secure a measure of prosperity; northern European nations such as Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark come to mind. But even in these social democracies popular gains are always at risk of being rolled back.

It is ironic to credit capitalism with the genius of economic prosperity when most attempts at material betterment have been vehemently and sometimes violently resisted by the capitalist class. The history of labor struggle provides endless illustration of this.

To the extent that life is bearable under the present U.S. economic order, it is because millions of people have waged bitter class struggles to advance their living standards and their rights as citizens, bringing some measure of humanity to an otherwise heartless politico-economic order.

CONTINUED...

http://www.michaelparenti.org/capitalism%20apocalypse.html

Taxes were as high as 92-percent on the top of the heap during Ike's tenure. He had it cut to 91-percent.

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=213

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said it well: "Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society."