America Is Purple

#1 Obama is not a fascist or a socialist and definitely not a fascist AND a socialist.  Socialism is a radical left ideology and Fascism is a radical right ideology.  Saying that Obama is a fascist is like calling George W Bush a Commie.  Obama isn’t exactly a Socialist either.  He’s firmly on the side of Capitalism.  Ask any actual socialists.

#2 Admitting something has faults is not the same as condemning it.  Capitalism is the best form of economics we humans have come up with, but that is not to say it is without fault.  Without some restraints, it leads to unbridled greed and a great deal of harm to all involved.  Since the foxes we put in charge of the hen-houses seem to be unable to restrain themselves, having some checks on the rampant greed displayed by corporations lately is not socialism, it’s trimming the sick branches of a tree so the good parts can flourish.

#3 Health Care reform is not socialism.  All the health-care bills that are currently under scrutiny are is Health Insurance reform.  In order to do socialized medicine right, the government would need to set up a single-payer system where you pay taxes and the government provides you health insurance.  If done right, this system could work to provide better coverage for a far greater number of people than the current system (and slightly worse coverage for a select few) but single-payer is not even on the table in any of the bills put forth.

#4 A public option will kill private insurance companies.  Just like UPS and FedEx are going out of business thanks to the USPS.  (For those of you who don’t get sarcasm: that was it.  The public option will be just that: an option.)

#5 The brown shirts will be showing up any minute now to silence dissent.  I shouldn’t have to say this, but no.  No they are not.  Obama, unlike his predecessor, even allows dissenting opinions in his town hall meetings.  He has taken ideas from both right and left.  And despite the fact that yelling doesn’t help change anyones minds, no one has come forth to arrest protesters en masse and send them to jail for expressing their opinions.

Bonus: Having your own opinion is fine.  Having your own facts is not.  If you would like to contribute to the discussion, you’re welcome to join but we’re discussing things in the real world, not the alternate reality where Obama sports a goatee and is spreading his Socialist-Fascist-Communist-Nazi agenda.  If you want to discuss bizzarro world, Glenn Beck is there for you.