Would Karl Marx Approve Of Obama’s Policies? [Reader Post]

To answer this question in an objective manner, we should compare the two men and the answer or answers will become apparent. Since Obama prefers to live his life as an enigma, we will compare Marx’s well documented life to the recent accomplishments of Obama, as far as accomplishments that’s all we have.

If we compare the men as authors, Obama has suffered the ignominy of having claimed to have written an autobiography that was written by another man. Marx is the most well read author in all of history, if we assume that the bible was written be multiple authors. Mohammed is a distant second, the followers of Marx far outnumber the followers of the Prophet.

Marx would surely be unimpressed, if not with the writing skills of Obama, at least with the output.

Marx, was described as a genius, prophet, and economic theorist, “first of all a very learned man,” by Joseph Schumpeter a well known (Austrian) Harvard economist, iconoclast and devout conservative. Despite outspoken pundit claims, we have yet to observe traces of Obama’s genius.

Marx wrote for the New York Tribune, their best paid correspondent. He also wrote for the Tribune and the Herald, the antecedents of the Herald Tribune, an organ of staunch Conservatism for generations.

Obama was the editor for the Harvard Law Review and wrote…nothing.

Both men attended University and distinguished themselves at being undistinguished. Marx specialized in drinking and dueling, Obama seems to have been preoccupied with cocaine and the bong. Marx, we know neglected his studies; Obama, since he has sealed his records, we can only assume he did poorly. Brilliant men don’t hide their accomplishments.

Both men used spirituality to their own detriment. Marx was a Jew, baptized a protestant, and was a practicing atheist. His writings indicate an anti-Semitism, as well as a revulsion for all religion. Marx stated that religion was the opiate of the masses, that religion only taught people to acquiesce through hardship and exploitation, when they should rise up in revolt.

Obama has been at the very least influenced by the Muslim religion of his father and stated, at least indirectly, in his book, that when an ill-wind blows he will always stand with the Muslim. He also spent twenty years in a Black Liberation Church listening to the racist rants of a bigoted preacher, Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Obama now shuns church and plays basketball instead.

At this point we reach a common ground, not that Marx was in to basketball, but he would have at least approved of the non-spiritual nature of Obama’s presidency.

Marx built his ideas of economics on the writings of Robert Malthus, Adam Smith, and David Ricardo; the fathers of economic theory. Obama based his economic theory on Davis and Alynsky. The comparison is laughable, but accurate. Marx would have been apoplectic with the writings of Obama’s mentors.

Marx’s Communist Manifesto was written with the help of his friend Engels. Originally, it was an organizing document for The League Of The Just, that became the Communist League. It is the most successful propaganda literature of all time. Marx’s writing took a quantum leap forward from being wordy and pretentious to being a series of hammer blows upon the anvil of human psyche. A style of delivery and speech writing that is still emulated by most politicians today.

From the Manifesto:

“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now open, now hidden fight, a fight tat each time ended either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.”

“The executive of the modern State is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie…”

I can’t help but wonder if Marx would identify Soros, the large banks, and Wall Street as the new bourgeoisie of the Obama Executive. I think that Karl would be extremely unimpressed with the antics of this carbon copy Marxism.

Marx did not call for the death of capitalism, indeed he praised capitalism, he described a great and practical conflict that would tend to bring forth a series of reforms. Such as:

Ending of private ownership of land
Progressive income tax
Abolition of inheritance
A national bank with a monopoly of banking operations
Public ownership of railroads and communication
Extension of public ownership in industry; cultivation of idle lands
Better soil management
Work by all
Combination of agriculture and industry; decentralization of population
Free education
Abolition of child labor
Education along with work

These reforms have appeared in industrialized countries and blunted the need for Marx’s “forced overthrow of existing social conditions.

Marx published the first volume of Das Kapital, in German, in 1867, after years of study in the reading room of the British Museum with Friedrich Engels at his side. Marx died on March 13, 1883, with Engels at his side. Engels then compiled all the notes and manuscripts and published two more volumes. Marx always insisted on a scholarly approach to all his writing, all related material had to be read and analyzed before he committed to print. Obama shares this same dedication and commitment to work.

Obama seems partially aware of the popular rhetorical ideas of revolution and is intent on rebuilding the most perfect society with a minimal understanding of Marx’s idea of societal revolution. Revolutions are easy to enunciate, but difficult to carry through. Three conditions are essential for a successful revolution.

You must have determined leaders. Men who are willing to gamble everything including their lives for an idea. Men who can inspire others to follow them, straight to the gates of Hell.

There must be dedicated followers, people who will follow orders without question. Often complicated by revolutionaries, who often have their own ideas of how things should be run, no matter where they are in rank.

The other side must be morally and militarily weak, otherwise there is a bloodbath.

Obama’s Revolution is destined to fail, it falls short on all three requirements for a successful revolution.

The effort of Obama to erode the nationalism and integrity of the United States would have probably been met with approval by Marx. Marx believed that proletarians should consider themselves workers first and foremost and above nationalism.

These few words, “inscribe on its banners: from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs,” are surely the most often recited among college students and revolutionaries of all time. This one phrase has probably recruited more people to Communism, than the hundreds of thousands in the three volumes of Das Kapitol and the Communist Manifesto; but they pale in comparison to Obama’s reference to wee weed men.

Marx has been dead for over 120 years, Obama is a fairly young man. Marx has inspired more people than the Prophet Mohammed and still his popularity catches people‘s imagination. Initially, Obama inspired many people, but like a candle running out of wax his inspiration is fading.

Like a moth that eventually flies into the flame, I think Obama’s prominence will be short; thank goodness, he didn’t have that charisma along with the intelligence and dedication of Marx.