May 27, 2008

Obama the Collectivist

Barack Obama gave the commencement speech at Wesleyan University. He was calling on the graduates to serve their country and to help those less fortunate than themselves.
Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate, although I believe you do have that obligation. Not because you have a debt to all those who helped you get to where you are today, although I do believe you have that debt to pay.

It's because you have an obligation to yourself. Because our individual salvation depends on collective salvation. Because thinking only about yourself, fulfilling your immediate wants and needs, betrays a poverty of ambition. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential and discover the role that you'll play in writing the next great chapter in the American story.

He did not speak of strengthening our military or winning in Iraq but he did comment on foreign policy.
As President, I intend to grow the Foreign Service, double the Peace Corps over the next few years, and engage young people of other nations in similar programs, so that we work side by side to take on the common challenges that confront all of humanity.

He must think he is running for President of the World. About education here at home:
I will pay our educators what they deserve, and give them more support, but I will also ask more of them to be mentors to other teachers, and serve in high-need schools and high-need subject areas like math and science. We will need you.

Since when does the President pay teachers? Taxpayers pay teachers. He doesn't call on any of these young people to serve their country by serving in the military.
At a time of war, we need you to work for peace. At a time of inequality, we need you to work for opportunity.

He even found a way to explain away all of the failed liberal policies and programs, and to convince these young people to go on welfare.
And so, understand that, should you take the path of service, should you choose to take up one of these causes as your own, know that you'll experience the occasional frustrations and the occasional failures. Even your successes will be marked by imperfections and unintended consequences. I guarantee you, there will be times when friends or family urge you to pursue more sensible endeavors with more tangible rewards. And there will be times where you will be tempted to take their advice.

In a nutshell, he believes we should not work for our own living, but for the lives of others. Individuals are nothing, it's the "collective" that's important. Don't support yourself, the government will support you. Don't join the military, in Obama's utopia we won't need one. There are lots of unintended consequences of liberal, socialist policies, but don't worry about that.

Anyone who says Obama is not a socialist is a liar.

1 comment:

S.A. Andrews said...

Great post.
I do not know how to link, as you do where the name The Lonely Conservative comes up as a link. When I create a link it posts as the http: addy.