I once wrote that we could play "Communist Manifesto Bingo": once President Obama enacts or strengthens five planks from the Communist Manifesto, yell "bingo" and you win. One month into President Obama's first term, BINGO!
I did change my own game rules just a tad. Instead of using the exact planks from Marx, which can be ambiguous for some people, I'm using a more detailed list from the current Communist Party USA. The CPUSA provides its platform on its website . Find "Election 2008" and go to "Click here to download PDF." I saved you the trouble, though, and listed the CPUSA's platform in a nice outline, below.
(Just for you anti-conspiracy buffs, note that I am not dredging up Marx himself, or something written by an anti-communist decades ago. I am citing the exact words of the Communist Party of the USA itself, as it exists right now. I encourage you to visit the CPUSA's web site. Obama's presidency is animating for them; the excitement vibrates through almost every article. The National Chair calls it a "new era." I'm not making this up.)
More...
1. Immediate Relief
1.1 A moratorium on foreclosures and evictions.
1.2 Reset mortgages so payments are affordable.
1.3 No bailouts for banks.
1.4 Extend unemployment compensation, increase payments and eligibility.
1.5 Increase food stamps, WIC, children's health ins., low income energy assistance.
1.6 Assist state and local governments.
1.7 Fund "ready-to-go" infrastructure projects.
2. A Peacetime, Green Jobs Economy for All
2.1 Enact massive public works.
2.2 Make existing buildings energy efficient.
2.3 Construct new schools, affordable housing, mass transit and bridges.
2.4 Major clean, affordable energy dvpt project for solar, wind, and biomass.
2.5 Program to cut greenhouse gas emissions, environmental cleanup.
2.6 Restore energy regulation and public ownership of utilities.
2.7 Enact the Employee Free Choice Act.
2.8 Enact HR 676, US National Health Insurance Act, single payer.
2.9 Fund public education, pre-school through higher and technical.
2.10 No privatization of Social Security or Medicare.
2.11 Expand and improve SS & Medicare benefits.
3. Restore Civil Rights, Bill of Rights, Separation of Powers
3.1 Restore Civil Rights Act enforcement, affirmative action.
3.2 Outlaw hate crimes.
3.3 Preserve Roe v Wade.
3.4 Immigration reform with path to citizenship, no militarization of borders.
3.5 No exploitative guest worker programs.
3.6 No human being is illegal.
3.7 Repeal the Patriot Act.
3.8 Investigate and prosecute Bush administration violations.
3.9 Expand voting rights.
3.10 Enact publicly financed elections.
3.11 Same-day registration.
3.12 Voting rights for ex-felons.
3.13 Restore Fairness Doctrine in media.
4. Strength through Peace
4.1 Withdraw US troops from Iraq with no bases or US corporations left behind.
4.2 Full care for returning veterans.
4.3 No war on Iran.
4.4 No expansion of troops in Afghanistan.
4.5 Assistance to Iraq to rebuild Iraq.
4.6 New foreign policy of diplomacy, respect for all nations.
4.7 Renew commitment to UN.
4.8 End trade policies that enrich corporations and destroy jobs.
4.9 Ratify Kyoto Treaty and other climate change agreements.
4.10 Enforce nuclear non-proliferation.
4.11 Work to abolish nuclear weapons.
4.12 Cut Pentagon spending in half.
4.13 Close down US bases around the world.
Just seeing this list should open your eyes. It is exactly what is happening. Much of it is like reading a description of Obama's stimulus package. Name three things on that list that any Democratic Senator would not applaud. But let's go through the list anyway, and see how we're doing.
(Another note to you anti-conspiracy buffs. You might think you could find, say, a neo-Nazi list that looks like the Republican agenda. I'll bet you can't. I went to the American Nazi party's web site to see what they have. They have no list. They want you to send them $5 just to see their "Info Pack." I wasn't that curious.)
Work on items 1.1 (A moratorium on foreclosures and evictions) and 1.2 (Reset mortgages so payments are affordable) had already started before Obama even got in office. The government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last September. Fannie and Freddie enacted a foreclosure moratorium and announced it in November. They encouraged lenders to "reduce interest rates, delay back payments and penalties, stretch the length of the loan or deferring payments."
So far, at least CitiGroup and JPMorgan have done as they were "encouraged."
But President Obama has much bolder plans, approximately $275B worth -- for now. According to the Washington Times,
"The plan seeks to lower monthly mortgage payments for delinquent homeowners through various incentives ranging from helping to make interest payments to rewarding lenders and borrowers with stipends of $1,000 to $1,500 for staying current on the loans. For homeowners with unaffordable loans, the goal would be to lower payments to less than a third of their pretax income."
Check the first two items off the list.
The $787B stimulus package signed into law February 13 by President Obama took care of several items on the list:
1.4 Extend unemployment compensation, increase payments and eligibility.
1.5 Increase food stamps, WIC, children's health ins., low income energy assistance.
1.6 Assist state and local governments.
1.7 Fund "ready-to-go" infrastructure projects.
2.1 Enact massive public works.
2.2 Make existing buildings energy efficient.
2.3 Construct new schools, affordable housing, mass transit and bridges.
2.4 Major clean, affordable energy dvpt project for solar, wind, and biomass.
2.5 Program to cut greenhouse gas emissions, environmental cleanup.
Whoever wrote the stimulus bill with his right hand almost seems to have had the CPUSA's list in his left hand. Check. Check. And checkmate.
Several items on CPUSA's list are already law or policy, or simply amount to not undoing something. I'm not sure why they are on the list, other than to say they should be strengthened or spending on them should be increased. Here are the ones I think are already taken care of.
2.9 Fund public education, pre-school through higher and technical.
2.10 No privatization of Social Security or Medicare.
2.11 Expand and improve SS & Medicare benefits.
3.1 Restore Civil Rights Act enforcement, affirmative action.
3.2 Outlaw hate crimes.
3.3 Preserve Roe v Wade.
3.10 Enact publicly financed elections.
4.2 Full care for returning veterans.
4.3 No war on Iran.
About 90% of K-12 education is already government run. But President Obama wants to extend it. It's not enough that the indoctrination starts at age five; Obama wants it to start at birth. "Cradle to cubicle", Charles Krauthammer calls it. Someone also made sure that no part of the $66B of the stimulus going to education would go to private schools.
"No recipient . . . shall use such funds to provide financial assistance to students to attend private elementary or secondary schools." As quoted in the Wall Street Journal .
Roe v Wade has been intact and indeed expanded and strengthened since 1973. President Obama just issued a Presidential Memorandum to reinstate the "Mexico Policy," which allows US government funds to be used "to pay for the performance of abortions ... or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions" anywhere in the world. And now he plans to coerce doctors to provide abortions right here in the US .
On the foreign policy front, I think we can say President Obama has a "new foreign policy of diplomacy, respect for all nations." He sent a badminton team to Iran. He congratulated Hugo Chavez on his move to become President-for-life, he's easing tensions with Syria, etc. President Obama also raised the status of UN Ambassador to Cabinet level. I think we can check items 4.6 and 4.7 off the list.
We're making good progress. Here are the remaining items.
1.3 No bailouts for banks.
2.6 Restore energy regulation and public ownership of utilities.
2.7 Enact the Employee Free Choice Act.
2.8 Enact HR 676, US National Health Insurance Act, single payer.
3.4 Immigration reform with path to citizenship, no militarization of borders.
3.5 No exploitative guest worker programs.
3.6 No human being is illegal.
3.7 Repeal the Patriot Act.
3.8 Investigate and prosecute Bush administration violations.
3.9 Expand voting rights.
3.11 Same-day registration.
3.12 Voting rights for ex-felons.
3.13 Restore Fairness Doctrine in media.
4.1 Withdraw US troops from Iraq with no bases or US corporations left behind.
4.4 No expansion of troops in Afghanistan.
4.5 Assistance to Iraq to rebuild Iraq.
4.8 End trade policies that enrich corporations and destroy jobs.
4.9 Ratify Kyoto Treaty and other climate change agreements.
4.10 Enforce nuclear non-proliferation.
4.11 Work to abolish nuclear weapons.
4.12 Cut Pentagon spending in half.
4.13 Close down US bases around the world.
In almost all the remaining items, President Obama or Democrats in the various states are busy doing what they can (e.g., same-day registration, letting felons vote). President Obama has already asked for a 10% cut in Pentagon spending and Barney Frank asked for 25%. Give it time; we'll get there.
(Space limits a full discussion of each line item and how it is being implemented. I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader.)
Only two items on the whole list appear to be contradicted.
1.3 No bailouts for banks.
4.4 No expansion of troops in Afghanistan.
Frankly, I'm suspicious about the bailout of banks. Sure, they're being "bailed out," if you call becoming an indentured servant being bailed out of bankruptcy jail. The banks are now being told how to run their businesses, how much they can make in bonuses, where to have their meetings (e.g., not Las Vegas), and how to get there (not private jets).
In fact, many are, or will be, nationalized. I think we can, effectively, scratch item 1.3 off our list.
So what's the score? Of 44 items on the CPUSA's list,
22 are already enacted.
21 are in work.
1 is being violated.
Halfway there gets me my Bingo. Pretty good for being in office just one month. Heck, at this pace, the CPUSA will have to come up with another list by summer.
Only one item out of 44 is being violated: Obama is sending more troops to Afghanistan. He's adding 17,000 on top of the 30,000 already there .
Funny, that's the only thing Bill Ayers, Mr. "Small ‘c' communist" and terrorist bomber, could find fault with in President Obama term of office so far.
What's up with that? I guess the easy explanation is that Obama doesn't want to go against his generals' wishes right out of the chute. There is a war going on, you know. Some generals asked for 30,000 troops; Obama gave them 17,000.
I also have another suspicion. I think Obama really, really wants to get Osama bin Laden. He's even willing to lose Pakistan, with its nukes, to Taliban and jihadi warlords if that's what it takes. Not that I think Obama cares all that much about the War on Terror. But can you imagine the press he'd get, bagging the A-Number-One 9/11 terrorist after Bush let him slip away for eight years? I admit it's just a guess.
But we're making good progress: halfway there in just one month. Be patient, comrades. As CPUSA's National Chair, Sam Webb, was quoted in the People's Weekly World ,
"The ‘biggest challenge' now, he told the meeting, is to ‘resist efforts by reaction and some on the left' to advocate a break in the coalition that elected Obama and is now led by him. ‘We will have our differences but they have to be handled so as not to break the overall unity,' he said."
President Obama is leading our coalition. Unite behind him. You have nothing to lose but your minds, and your life savings.
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