Paul Broun calls Obama a Marxist

Georgia's Rep. Paul Broun has called President-elect Obama a Marxist.

He then further warned "It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he’s the one who proposed this national security force....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."

"You have to remember that Adolf Hitler was elected in a democratic Germany," he said. "I’m not comparing him to Adolf Hitler...what I’m saying is there is the potential of going down that road."

"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."

OK. I'm not sure where to start.

First, I think Rep. Paul Broun should probably do some basic research before speaking. That should be painfully obvious.

Second, Nazi comparisons are always a bad idea. Dodd's Corollary states this quite well: "When debating a particular subject, if a comparison or implied connection is drawn between the opponent's argument and Hitler and the Nazi Party, the maker of that statement is automatically discredited and the debate is automatically lost by the person or group who referenced the connection to Hitler or the Nazis."

Third, it is amazingly disingenuous to claim that your aren't comparing Obama to Hitler when that is exactly what you just did...and then did again after claiming that isn't what you were doing.

I am reading more and more articles about the specter of Socialism since Barack Obama got elected. I'm hearing it from people in bars and on streets, too. The thing is, none of these people understand what Socialism is...nor do they understand that Barack Obama isn't a Socialist.

Here's the thing. Nazism and Socialism have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Nazi Germany was a dictatorship.

Socialism is "an economic system characterized by public ownership and centralized planning of all major industries (manufacturing, services, and energy), banks and insurance companies, agribusiness, transportation, the media, and medical facilities."

Socialist movements desire to "establish a radical democracy that places people's lives under their own control -- a non-racist, classless, feminist, socialist society in which people cooperate at work, at home, and in the community."

Please reread the part about a "non-racist" and "classless" society. Egalitarian societies and anti-Semitic holocausts don't exactly go together.

Socialism is, by its very definition and essence, democratic. It is a left-wing democracy. Nazism is a right wing fascist totalitarian dictatorship. The two systems couldn't be more opposed to each other.

You can learn more about Socialism from The Statement of Principles of The Socialist Party USA.

Or visit Solidarity and read about what they stand for.

Or read Socialism 101 by Socialism Action

Marxism is a specific ideology of it's own. Marx's goal was to move past Socialism into a Utopian state of Communism. Communism, for those of you who base your political knowledge on repeated viewings of Rocky IV and Red Dawn, is similar to Socialism except there is no central government. In Communism everything is owned jointly by the people. It is impossible to be a Communist dictator because there is no government for a dictator to be a part of. Soviet Russia was not Communist. Nor is Cuba. Nor is China.

You can learn more about Marxism at The Marxists Internet Archive.

If you disagree with Socialism, that's cool. I disagree with much that Libertarian believe in but that's fine, too. There is no single political system that will appeal to absolutely everyone. If there was, we would all be using that system. Clearly, we aren't.

But Socialism is no more inherently evil than Libertarianism or a federal constitutional republic like the current U.S. system. Before you go tarring people with red and calling them evil Socialists, please take a moment to learn what the hell you are talking about.