Is Barack Obama a Marxist?

The nutroots are outraged because Tom Delay called Barack Obama "a Marxist" today. Delay was partially correct - from what we know about Obama, he is a member of the far left, but Marxism is probably not the correct category.

Marxism is totalitarianism where the entire means of production (the economy) is owned and directed by the state. It calls for armed revolution against the non-communist ruling class. Revolution is usually followed by widespread execution of capitalists, business owners and large farm owners. Does Obama believe that? Perhaps, but I haven't seen any evidence of that.

What Obama is, clearly, is a fascist. The most honest spin one could put on Obama's political leanings is that he is a democratic fascist. That's different than historical fascism, where the state is ruled by a single dictator. Democratic fascism would be ruled by a single political party, to the extent possible.

Traditionally, democratic fascism is made possible by major media who are in that party's hip pocket and who are the gatekeepers as to what news is heard and which is not, and the spin and intepretation put on that news. Expect Obama to reinstate the fairness doctrine, where conservative talk radio would cease to exist. Expect also a massive gerrymandering of congressional districts to create safe enclaves for Democrats. In those rare times when Democratic legislation is defeated, expect more Democrat "living constitution" judges who will legislate from the bench.

The Democrats may try to expand their constituency by giving citizenship to illegal aliens, and the vote to illegals by suppressing voter identification legislation. Finally, control of the ballot box will allow dead people to vote Democratic, as they have several times in the past. When all else fails, the Democrats can appoint special judges to persecute and prosecute Republicans, as they have done to Tom Delay and Scooter Libby.

There are many ways to compromise a representative democracy and Democrats are well schooled in all of them.

Fascism in its mildest form is still collectivist and socialist, but the state does not own the entire means of production. Many businesses are left in the hands of private owners, as long as they support the objectives of the fascist state. Nevertheless, historic fascism did nationalize certain key industries. Obama would probably nationalize the medical industry, as Hillary tried to do, but I know of no others. Of course, outright ownership of the means of productions isn't necessary to control industry. Industry can be intimidated and/or bribed to fall into line. The power to tax and regulate is the power to destroy, and very high taxes would be a hallmark of the Obama administration. Repeated IRS audits of conservative organizations, common during Bill Clinton's administration, provides great intimidation to those businesses who don't embrace "the program." For those who do support it, there are tax credits, corporate welfare and pork projects, paid for by the taxpayers.

No, Obama is a fascist within the correct historical definition of the term. See my post on Jonah Goldberg's book "Liberal Fascsim" for details.