Lately, the Republicans have been claiming that Obama’s policy proposals are socialist. CNN quotes from McCain’s speech on Saturday, October 18, 2008:

‘œYou see, [Obama] believes in redistributing wealth, not in policies that help us all make more of it. Joe, in his plainspoken way, said this sounded a lot like socialism,’ McCain said Saturday.

McCain also said in his radio address, ‘œAt least in Europe, the socialist leaders who so admire my opponent are up front about their objectives. They use real numbers and honest language. And we should demand equal candor from Sen. Obama. Raising taxes on some in order to give checks to others is not a tax cut; it’s just another government giveaway.’

This is all true. But it’s also – and I apologize for the cliche – the pot calling the kettle black. The Republicans controlled Congress from 1994 to 2006 and the presidency from 2000 until now, and there was still plenty of wealth redistribution going on. Consider a few examples:

  • Social Security – One of the oldest and largest methods of wealth redistribution in America, this massive ponzi scheme has been around in one form or another since 1935. To his credit, Bush did try to push through a privatization reform, but failed even with Republican control of both houses of Congress, because Republicans in general support this socialist program.
  • Medicare – Signed into law by LBJ, a Democrat, this massive socialist program is now a much bigger problem than Social Security, especially after being expanded by Republicans under Medicare Part D – the prescription drug benefit. This program, combined with the employer insurance mandate and other regulations, has been distorting the health care market and driving up medical care prices in the US for decades.
  • Farm subsidies – American taxpayers have the pleasure of paying about $16 billion per year to subsidize the production of feed grains, cotton, wheat, rice, soybeans, sugar, and other products. These farm bills have been repeatedly passed by both Republican and Democratic administrations since the 1930’s.
  • Corporate welfare – This report by the Cato Institute shows that in FY 2006 alone, taxpayers paid $92 billion in subsidies to private entities such as Boeing, Xerox, IBM, Motorola, Dow Chemical, and General Electric. This was, once again, under a Republican administration.
  • The recent massive bailout for the financial sector – This one really takes the cake. I never thought I would see Republicans so blatantly abandon their supposedly ‘˜free market’ principles, but I was wrong. Republican support was somewhat weaker than Democratic support, but the bill still passed with Republican help and was signed by a Republican president.

These are just a few examples. The truth is, many of the federal government’s redistributive programs are quite popular with voters. It’s hard to get elected to Congress, much less the Presidency, without supporting at least some socialist programs.

But it’s time that Republicans admit to themselves that they are not the defenders of capitalism and free markets that they imagine themselves to be. As far as economic policy, the only real choice in this election is one of degrees. You can vote Republican and get a good helping of socialism, or you can vote Democrat and go back for seconds.

If you want to vote for the free market, your only real choice is the Libertarian Party. The poor showing of this party in national elections shows you how popular capitalism really is in the U.S.A.

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Bill keeps a personal blog, touching on a range of disparate topics, from relationships to video games to economics and politics.

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