Socialists Say He's Not One Of Them

Apparently the President isn't Red enough. 

But we already knew he wasn't a socialist.  He is a Neo-Socialist. 

Jonah Goldberg On Neo-Socialism

I first wrote about Barack Obama's neo-socialism last November on the blog--inspired (as always) by Jonah Goldberg's writing and thinking about what kind of ideology actually was at the heart of the man. Jonah quite nicely linked to my post on National Review Online, and I had my biggest one day readership ever.

In the May issue of Commentary, Goldberg has expanded on this theme in a masterful way. It's a longish article (Commentary being a journal not for the short attention span generation), but it well worth reading. I can't decide whether I like Goldberg better when he's light and snarky or when he's firing on all intellectual cylinders (as he is in this piece). Either way, he's just better at this stuff than almost anyone else doing it.

H/T Instapundit

A Neo-Socialism Dustup!

One of the great things about that little box on the right side of the blog that tells me where people are tuning in from (though it DOES NOT give me your IP address or your name--back in your hole, libertarian thugs) is that I get to see where people came to the blog FROM--as in which site. This morning, I saw that someone in Tokyo has come to the CW from this site--Savage Minds. And lo and behold, there it was--a post about Neo-socialism that had extensive references to my November post.

I've responded to Professor Dominic Boyer's post on that site, but I think it the response is undergoing review. And though it appears likely that Professor Boyer and I aren't likely to agree on much (Gadzooks--the man seems proud to be a "Marxian") , I am grateful to him for the citation and for the generally fair treatment of what I wrote.

Obama as Chavez

As I read this story and analyze the rhetoric, it occurs to me that when Barack Obama hops up on his populist perch, he sounds a lot like Hugo Chavez.

Krauthammer Calls It "New" Socialism; I Call It "Neo-socialism".

Dr. K had a nice piece in the Washington Post yesterday talking about the "new" socialism afoot in the world, rising primarily from the elevation of environmentalism to the level of secular religion. I think what Dr. K is trying to describe fits better in my construction of "neo-socialism" than in any attempt to classify what we have out there as some kind of latest iteration of socialist wave theory. What the good Dr. K misses here is the extent to which the huge transfer of wealth advocated by environmentalism is being aided and abetted not ONLY by pliant, lefty governments around the world (ours included), but also by BUSINESS....this is where things begin to show some scary likeness to Jonah Goldberg's "Liberal Fascism" thesis (or part of it), where big business recognizes which way the wind is blowing (or is being blown by government), then colludes with government in order to set the conditions for that business or industry to thrive in the new environment (see "Immelt, Jeffrey (GE)) . Put another way, this is neo-socialism's blending of government and capitalism--that of course--devolves eventually to fascism.

Neo-Socialism

Anyone who puts himself out there as a conservative thinker/commentator will invariably find themselves the subject of critics who hurl the phrase "neo-con" or "neo-conservative" at them, as if there is no difference in "conservatism" and "neo-conservatism". There is. Neo-conservatism adds to a core of conservative domestic sensibility a new sense of American exceptionalism in the world and a concomitant duty to spread the benefits of democracy and liberalism (classical, not modern) throughout the world. Most who use the phrase "neo-con" these days mean it as an insult, largely code for "support for the failed policies of George Bush" or some other such drivel.

I propose that we now begin to refer to the policies of the Obama Administration as "Neo-Socialism". Not in some childish game of tit-for-tat, but in the recognition of the fundamental differences in classic socialism and the brand practiced by President Obama and his administration.

Here are, as far as I can see it, the defining characteristics of "Neo-socialism".

1. A belief in the concept that capitalism has failed, but can be resuscitated by a new partnership between government and business. This new partnership will be inherently more fair to more people.
2. A belief that competition isn't necessarily bad, and that government can and should be permitted to compete with private industry.
3. A belief that big government isn't necessarily bad; what is bad is BAD big government. Big, effective government is desirable.
4. A belief in the transcendent quality of the world community while de-valuing national interests. A sense of American relative and actual decline in the world, one that demands of us a more compliant approach to problem solving. A perception that American decline is not necessarily a bad thing.

I'm sure there's more--but this is a good start.