The labeling of President Obama part one: Is President Obama really a Marxist?

July 2, 3:52 AMPolitical Buzz ExaminerRyan Witt

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Is this an attempt of Obama to promote class struggle?  AP Photo Alex Brandon

In the spirited debates I have seen regarding President Obama on the message boards, comment screens, and blog posts a three groups have.  The first group is Obama supporters who claim he is simply adopting reasonable programs to help the lower classes and regulate an otherwise out-of-control free market economy.  The second group is Obama dissenters who see his economic policy and legislative proposals as foolish and possibly destructive.  The third group, which I have found is surprisingly large, genuinely believes Obama to be a Marxist or Communist or Socialist.  Some even go as far as to say Obama is in the midst of brainwashing the American public to his socialist ideology.

Debates between the first two groups are usually spirited but somewhat civil.  The two sides debate the merits of each side's economic theories and attempt to use facts and stats to support their respective argument.  Debates between the first group and the third group, however, tend to get out of hand.  The debate usually seems to succumb to name calling and accusations of brainwashing or ignorance that go nowhere in increasing understanding.

In an attempt to clarify the debate and make things more educational for all parties I am embarking on a series which will examine the terms of socialism, communism, and Marxism and see how Obama's words and policies meet or fail to meet the definition of those words. 

To begin we will first examine the word "Marxism."  In my next post on this series I will compare Obama's words and policies against the definition. I invite readers to give their own input beforehand as I may respond to the more civil and well supported arguments in my next post.

First the all important definition must be established.  After all, if we are going to convict someone of murder we must first define what is murder.  If we want to define Obama as Marxist we must clearly define what a Marxist is.  The website economicexpert.com defines a Marxist simply as "the political and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx."  This does very little to help us as a fourth grader could tell us as much.  The business dictionary provides a bit more guidance in defining Marxism as the following:

System of economic, social, and political philosophy based on the idea that class struggle is the """"motor of history,"""" and that the outdated class structures will be overthrown with force (revolution) instead of being replaced through patient modification. It explains that as the capitalism has succeeded the feudalism, it too will be removed by a dictatorship of the workers (proletariat) called socialism, followed quickly and inevitably by a classless society which governs itself without a governing class or structure. Developed in the 19th century jointly by two lifelong German friends living in London Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) it forms the foundation of communism.

Finally we have our ever faithful history learning site to provide us with ten points Marx advocated which include:

1)     The abolition of the property/ownership of land.

2)     Income tax to be graded to income – the more an individual earned, the more they paid. The less you earned, the less you paid.

3)     Abolition of all rights of inheritance.

4)     The confiscation of all property of immigrants and rebels.

5)     The centralisation of all credit into the hands of the state by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive economy.

6)     Centralisation of all means of communication and transport into the hands of the state.

7)     The extension of factories and the instrument of production owned by the state. Bringing into cultivation all land not being used that could be and an improvement in the fertility of the soil.

8)     The equal obligation of all to work and the establishment of an industrial and agricultural armies.

9)     The combination of agriculture and manufacturing industries with the gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country by the more equable distribution of the population over the country.

10)  Free education for all children in public schools. The abolition of child labour in factories; an educated child would be better for society in the long term, than a child not educated.

Now that we are all armed with a definition of Marxism that, hopefully, we can all agree upon; let the debate begin!