Tea Party activists held rallies yesterday in an effort to spread the warning that Barack Obama is a dangerous socialist – or worse, a Communist. Former comedian Victoria Jackson sang “There’s a Communist in the White House”. Tea Partier Cindy DeShields declared of Obama, “He’s a Marxist socialist who wants to take over everything.”
When the Tea Party uses words like socialist, communist and marxist to describe Barack Obama, what they’re referring to is the idea that President Obama is expanding government programs, taking over activities that had previously been performed by businesses. They warn that Obama’s expansion of the government is so swift and so thorough, that soon the government will control everything and there will be no more liberty in America.
Yesterday, President Obama announced that he is changing the course of America’s space program. Part of that change is a plan to send human beings to the planet Mars within the next 25 years. Another part of that plan, however, is the cancellation of a government program to develop spacecraft to succeed the Space Shuttle, and allocate that work to private companies instead.
Congressman David Wu gave the following speech yesterday in opposition to President Obama’s privatization plan for NASA:
“I rise in strong opposition to the president’s decision to privatize the human spaceflight program. The space program inspires us to reach for the stars in both our dreams and our actions, and it helps drive our nation’s technological innovation. I am deeply concerned that this decision will hinder our ability to remain at the forefront of human achievement.
The Constellation Program is not perfect. But putting all of our eggs in a private sector basket is simply too risky a gamble. We are jeopardizing our lead in space exploration, we are jeopardizing our nation’s future, and we are jeopardizing astronaut safety.
I urge my colleagues to join me in opposing the president’s plan to privatize the human spaceflight program. We must not concede our leadership in space exploration at a time when it is more critical than ever.”
If you’re one of those Tea Party protesters who believes that Barack Obama is a socialist, I’d like you to explain how this announcement of the privatization of a major NASA program fits into that socialist agenda.
Absolutely! You can’t have it both ways. If you are going to decry socialism, then you have to be consistent to have credibility. Many in the Tea Party clearly do not by that rule; no matter how well intentioned or misguided some of them may be.
Congressman Wu should however better frame his comments and is clearly not in line with the Constitution. He’s playing politics. Mr. Obama in this case is right on the nose. Article 1, Section 8 – Powers of Congress, Part 8 says, “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;” I’m not up-to-speed on Court Opinions, but suspect they agree.
While a time for the government to own things like a space program, or any other industry like Health Care, Finance, Agriculture, Communications, Internet, etc.. for reasons of Defense, Public Safety or the Public Welfare, the Constitutional direction is for privatization. As much fun as getting to heavenly bodies may be for government workers, it’s time to move on. Privatize.
Ha! Just heard Limbaugh (is that a bad word here?) falling into the same trap. He’s crying about how our military will suffer and we won’t be safer…or some such. Pathetic. He is acting like Obama is abolishing NASA. This dude was saying two years ago that if we just let the private sector up-armor the military’s hummers we would solve the problem immediately. Circus.
Laughable! I seriously doubt this! MSNBC space reporter: No NASA workers allowed at Obama’s speech yesterday. http://hotair.com/archives/2010/04/16/msnbc-space-reporter-no-nasa-workers-allowed-at-obamas-speech-yesterday/
By cutting the NASA budget and apportioning that money to social welfare programs and the like, I believe Obama is indeed very well within the context of a “socialist”.
Please. Much of the NASA budget is corporate welfare.