Obama must be reading from a separate sheet of music from the rest of America
By Kelly O'Connell Sunday, February 14, 2010 There must be a simple explanation for President Obama’s stubborn refusal to admit mistakes or change his failed far-left policies. Perhaps Barack stumbled upon a secret blueprint to the cosmos which guides his every decision, fallen from the lap of the gods? This could explain making many disastrous choices, yet still carrying on happily in the midst of relentless failure
Yet, with so many disastrous policies imploding all around, what other reason could there be for his upbeat and sanguine attitude? How else can one explain his utter mishaps, boondoggles and catastrophes against his fulsome self-satisfaction? Or, why the epic refusal to try new strategies when it’s clear his economic ideas are failing worse than cold-fusion?
So, Obama must be reading from a separate sheet of music from the rest of America. And this has undoubtedly immunized him from reacting badly to his unprecedented collapse in popularity. But could Obama be right, and everyone else wrong when it comes to economics? According to Wittgenstein’s “Private Language” rule, the answer is a resounding, “No!”
I. Is Keynes or Wittgenstein the Answer?
Keynes: In a nutshell, what Obama did his first year was rampantly spend taxpayer money to “solve” our financial woes by staggering government investment. Pointedly, Barack is spending borrowed money, to be repaid later, to solve current problems. This controversial fiscal policy is called “Keynesian Economics.” This strategy has several transparent dangers. First, very large deficits can be quickly built upon borrowed sums, which must be paid back with interest. Second, there is a keen possibility government spending, using tax dollars, is not an efficient way to build an economy. If the latter is true, huge deficits will be amassed which would not even achieve any meaningful sustained growth. So future generations would be saddled with the triple tragedy of having massive debts to repay, which originally achieved no economic good, but now which have to be repaid with interest, from a diminished economy. But the question remains, what if Keynesian Economics doesn’t work?!! Hunter Lewis’ book, “Where Keynes Went Wrong” goes into great detail explaining why it does not.
Wittgenstein: The conundrum here is this: Obama argues that he and his economic advisors are so wise and far-sighted, that decisions made today which might seem reckless or even nonsensical, like wildly spending future sums on mostly forgettable programs, are actually astute fiscal policy in the longterm. But does this argument make sense? Actually, no – for reasons outlined by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, in his famous “Private Language” analysis in the book Philosophical Investigations. The summary of his argument, as applied here to Obamanomics, is that a decision which seems stupid cannot be claimed “wise” simply because the decision-maker pretends he has secret, or even mystical “messianic” knowledge that the average person cannot understand.
More specifically, the “Private Language” argument offers a fairly straightforward standard. Wittgenstein asks whether there could be a “Private Language” owned by only a single person? He answers that this is impossible. Why? For the same reason no single person can own a “fact” knowable only to himself. In other words, language only makes sense when it is communicated to another person. Likewise, we cannot call something a “fact” which cannot be coherently communicated or proved to other people.
In the present case, there is no such thing as a successful economic fact, known secretly only to Barack Obama, but which still should be used by the US government for public policy. If Barack has a good economic idea that costs a trillion dollars, it should be brought out and exhaustively debated, not simply whisked through Congress in a few days. And if the idea is sound, it will thrive in a sunlight examination. But as happened, the last Stimulus was passed almost without debate on the theory the “Next Great Depression” would result if the bill wasn’t instantly approved. But how can we even be sure a collapse was imminent?
Barack has a Private Language problem with his Obamanomics, in that he promises his ideas will work, despite any evidence to the contrary – regardless of how illogical the ideas seem, how contrary the math turns out to be, or despite how contradictory the current outcome is. Barack blankly claims we must just put our faith in him because of his profound economic knowledge. But isn’t it possible Obama has already made a terrible decision to waste nearly a trillion dollars on a Stimulus Bill that did not keep unemployment from topping 8%, as promised? Further, claiming jobs were created or “saved” by the Bill, despite hard evidence that eight million folks have lost their job during Obama’s tenure, seems sheer sophistry.
Critics have further pointed out the Stimulus Bill was not built for stimulus, to begin with. Instead, borrowed money will be spent for years, which was not the immediate jolt of adrenaline most assumed would occur when it was passed. But these facts certainly help explain why unemployment has hovered near 10% for months, as total unemployment – by every category – is now supposedly 17%. Yet the administration has talked about another “stimulus” or “jobs” bill that would cost hundreds of billions more.
Yet, critics now insist the entire train wreck of “stimulus bills” which are mostly local congressional pork projects, should be immediately stopped as they do not work in building an economy, even in the short term. And these experts point to the current lack of results as proof positive of their assertions. But assuming that Obama’s team really is the cream of the crop, and they do know what they are doing, then why are they breaking their necks to spend as much money as quickly as possible? For to add up Obama’s fiscal damage, to the stimulus Bill we must add the TARP bank-bailout, the Detroit car maker investment, all Wall Street and investment banking bailouts, etc., which total in the trillions and cannot be repaid soon in any reasonable scenario. So, in other words, is Obama doing grave damage to the US economy on purpose?
Marx; Cloward-Piven; & Economic Sabotage
MARX: We must now ask why Obama would want to purposely damage the US economy, if his depredations are not accidental? The answer could quite simply be that Barack Obama is a genuine communist. In fact, most of his family were either sympathetic to socialism or Marxism, including both fathers, his mother, his grandparents, a childhood mentor Mr. Davis, his friends Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, his pastor of two decades Rev. Wright, and even members of his White House team, like Van Jones. So, since water seeks its own level, the idea of Obama actually carrying Marxist values inside his heart would hardly seem shocking, given his background.
Now, if Barack is a closet Marxist, then his beliefs teach him that free market capitalism is a bad thing and it hurts people. So, destroying our capitalist economy would result in liberation of many American people, since capitalism is an unfair and wicked economic system. In other words, since Marxists hate capitalism because they believe it is evil, to destroy capitalism helps people who are slaves in that type economy. Karl Marx once wrote, “Capital is dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks.”
Marxists believe that there are two types of people – the poor and the rich; or the oppressed and oppressors; ie, the master and slaves. Marx also said, “Capital is reckless of the health or length of life of the laborer, unless under compulsion from society.” What Marx wanted was a revolution liberating downtrodden workers creating a society without envy, or greed, or war. He said, “Let the ruling classes tremble at a communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workingmen of all countries, unite!” This would be achieved when pure communism was instituted, which would occur automatically, someday. Marx stated, “The theory of Communism may be summed up in one sentence: Abolish all private property.”
Marxists are opposed to capitalism as it equals economic slavery for the masses. Marx taught a natural progression would sweep mankind towards paradise on earth, by going first from capitalism, then to socialism, and finally to communism, the latter being a state where people own no property. He also said, “Democracy is the road to socialism.” Marx again wrote, “The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism.”
To be a Marxist means a person is committed to just a few things. First, a revolution needs to occur overthrowing the tyranny of capitalist slavery. Then socialism is established, which finally morphs to communism. Yet, these things cannot happen until the foundation of a capitalist economy is ruptured. And such a break might occur in many ways – through war, revolution, propaganda, intrigue or even internal sabotage.
Cloward-Piven: After the failure of capitalist societies to spontaneously opt for socialism or communism, Marxists were left for decades to ponder a way to reach heaven on earth without self-induced worker revolt. In the 1960’s, two Columbia University professors developed a theory on how a healthy democratic economy might be pushed towards insolvency. This is described by the Internet site Discover the Networks: “...the “Cloward-Piven Strategy” seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse.”
What is occurring now in Washington DC, with rampant spending and recklessly designed projects, could be called part of a Cloward-Piven strategy to undermine the US. Certainly, this is the effect it is having, regardless of its intent. But this is hardly relevant when one realizes that Marxism has always been dependent upon some hardy souls taking risks to attack an economy and help sabotage it to make ready for the next phase of the worker revolution.
Marxist Sabotage: Several books have pointed out some of the classic modes of sabotage that Marxists have employed over the years. In the first place, Marxist communist doctrine calls out all workers to revolt, according to a book by the Committee on Un-American Activities, US House of Representatives, called “Facts on Communism, Vol. I – The Communist ideology.” The logic here includes the declaration that since capitalism is rooted in evil, any manner of fighting this enslaver of mankind is ethical – including armed revolt, lying, cheating, stealing and killing. So a true communist is not going to be held back by “bourgeoisie” middle-class morality from fighting the good fight. But sabotage could occur through union subterfuge, strikes in various sectors, military and governmental espionage, physical assaults upon infrastructure, voter or political deceit, propaganda campaigns, infiltration of schools, entertainment or media, etc. (see addendum, below)
The call to Revolution is the most hallowed of all communist ideals, and must come before all other concerns. So one can see the Marxist paradigm as one of unmitigated sacrifice to the cause of revolutionary activities. The House book states that the “Socialist Revolution” will call all the enlightened, saying “...it appeals to men to devote their lives to the cause of the Socialist Revolution, regardless of whether or not that revolution would satisfy their needs or improve their condition.” One can see here the strong evangelical element of Marxist revolutionary propaganda, which was actually borrowed from the Bible. In terms of ethics, only the revolution matters, and all men will be judged by this yardstick.
Clarence B. Carson’s fine book, “Basic Communism: It’s Rise, Spread and Debacle in the 20th Century” spells out the various aspects of modern Marxist sabotage. Carson writes, “It has become sufficiently clear since the 1950’s…that Communists are extensively engaged in what can be best understood as sabotage in the United States as well as other lands.” Carson goes on to describe how a majority of the 500 Soviet “journalists” working abroad were actually agents devoted to propaganda and how the world media was sometimes either fooled, seduced or even bribed into touting their claims. Sometimes obscure foreign papers were used to plant stories back in the States. For example, the Ethiopian Herald was employed to help salt faked stories about how the CIA was poisoning Cuban crops by sending viruses into its plant and animal stock. Today, who can argue that the Western media is now largely leftist after decades of Marxism dominating academia in the guise of Political Correctness? This PC movement is nothing less than Marxism translated into social doctrines meant to undermine the traditional societies of the West.
Sometimes secret agents have insinuated themselves into foreign governments and wreaked havoc as spies. But the biggest fear for many is that highly placed Americans of communist sympathy will run amok within the halls of power. Such a case occurred with Alger Hiss, who – much like Barack Obama – graduated with distinction from Harvard law school and began working for the US government. He was later famously outed as a communist mole by Whitaker Chambers and sentenced to prison. But many have asked – What if a communist rose so high in the US government he could not be detected or stopped from rampaging before great damage was done?
III. Conclusion
It cannot be doubted that Barack Obama is already on the verge of historic failure as an economic planner, given his epic deficits which could easily lead to US loan defaults and insolvency. Yet the real shocker is how the borrowed money is simply being completely wasted while the private sector and especially small businesses are dying on the vine as loans are no longer easily procured. The clear question is – could this possibly be accidental?
Obama is certainly far left in his policies. And following the careers of the great Marxist leaders, whether Lenin, Stalin or Mao, reveals them all to have been furiously arrogant and utterly misinformed upon economics, and their stupid mistakes lead to the deaths of tens of millions. Perhaps this is inevitable, given Marxism’s utter contempt for the details of capitalism. But the question remains – is Obama simply a misinformed, yet well-meaning economic misfit; or is he intent on crashing American capitalism to implement the huge changes he ominously promised during his campaign?
Barack’s relentless confidence might not be so much from his belief that his atomic Keynesian routine will work. Instead, it just might be because he knows it will fail spectacularly. And if it does, Obama will be in a great position to implement socialism or Marxism to “save” America from its evil Capitalist soul.
ADDENDUM: This list of 45 communist goals will well-illustrate what strategies communists have used to try to undermine America. It was taken from Cleon Skousen’s 1958 book “The Naked Communist”, and posted in the US House Congressional record in 1963:
The Communist Takeover Of America - 45 Declared Goals
Communist Goals (1963) Congressional Record—Appendix, pp. A34-A35 January 10, 1963
Current Communist Goals EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. A. S. HERLONG, JR. OF FLORIDA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Thursday, January 10, 1963 .
Mr. HERLONG. Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Nordman of De Land, Fla., is an ardent and articulate opponent of communism, and until recently published the De Land Courier, which she dedicated to the purpose of alerting the public to the dangers of communism in America.
At Mrs. Nordman’s request, I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following “Current Communist Goals,” which she identifies as an excerpt from “The Naked Communist,” by Cleon Skousen:
[From “The Naked Communist,” by Cleon Skousen]
1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.
3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.
6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.
7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.
8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev’s promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.
9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.
10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)
12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.
15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.
16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policy-making positions.
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity, which does not need a “religious crutch.”
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the “common man.”
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the “big picture.” Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture—education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use [”]united force[”] to solve economic, political or social problems.
43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.
45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction [over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction] over nations and individuals alike.
http://www.rense.com/general32/americ.htm
Kelly O’Connell is a writer and attorney. He was born on the West Coast, raised in Las Vegas, and matriculated from the University of Oregon. After laboring for the Reformed Church in Ireland, he returned to America and attended law school in Virginia, where he earned a JD and a Master’s degree in Government. He spent a stint working as a researcher and writer of academic articles at a Miami law school, focusing on ancient law and society. He then returned West and worked as an assistant district attorney. Kelly is now is a private practitioner with a small law practice in New Mexico. Kelly can be reached at: hibernian1@gmail.com.
