Obama's Energy Legislation - Socialistic?

H. R. 2454 To create clean energy jobs, achieve energy independence, reduce global warming pollution and transition to a clean energy economy

Cap and Trade is a component of Obama’s proposed energy legislation. In a nutshell: The overarching idea behind the legislation is to limit the amount of greenhouse gasses released into our atmosphere. Companies would be limited to a certain output of greenhouse gases, and if they produce more than their limit they will have to purchase offsets from another company that produces less.

My opinion is that this is a ridiculous idea because it will end up costing the American consumer. Why? Companies that have to purchase offsets will simply pass along that cost to us, in the form of higher prices. That’s what companies do when their cost of production increases. And no matter how horrible greenhouse gases supposedly are, this is NOT the time to be unnecessarily raising prices on anything!

But is Cap and Trade a socialistic policy? Not really. Take a look at the definition of Socialism in my blog entry below. In this legislation, there is no proposal of communal ownership of the production and distribution of goods. The idea of equity and fairness is there, but that alone does not qualify Cap and Trade as socialistic.

Cap and Trade = NOT socialistic. Not a good idea, but NOT socialistic.

This bill has passed the US House and is now being worked on in the US Senate. To express your support or opposition to this bill, contact your state’s senators.

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

If you want to read some interesting stuff about the Cap and Trade legislation, check out these entries on Jamie Dupree’s blog. Jamie Dupree is a full time Washington correspondent and is one of the most politically neutral reporters out there, in my opinion.

http://wsbradio.com/blogs/jamie_dupree/2009/07/cap-and-trade-contents.html
http://wsbradio.com/blogs/jamie_dupree/2009/07/cap-and-trade-grows.html
http://wsbradio.com/blogs/jamie_dupree/2009/07/cap-and-trade-extras.html
http://wsbradio.com/blogs/jamie_dupree/2009/07/more-cap-and-trade.html
http://wsbradio.com/blogs/jamie_dupree/2009/07/cap-and-tradeorama.html

Socialism - the Conservative's New Rallying Cry!

Politically speaking, I am a conservative. I believe in free market capitalism and generally agree with the common conservative points of view. But I have been noticing a trend that disturbs me.

Lately, it seems that no matter what President Obama says or does, some conservative out there screams, “Socialism!” And thousands will rally behind with a hearty “AMEN!” But do they know exactly what they’re screaming and amen-ing?

According to Encarta, socialism is 1) a political system of communal ownership: a political theory or system in which the means of production and distribution are controlled by the people and operated according to equity and fairness rather than market principles; 2) a movement based on socialism: a political movement based on principles of socialism, typically advocating an end to private property and to the exploitation of workers; and 3) a stage between capitalism and communism: in Marxist theory, the stage after the proletarian revolution when a society is changing from capitalism to communism, marked by pay distributed according to work done rather than need.

I want to examine a few of Obama’s policies / proposals over the next few days in light of this definition. Are they truly Socialist, or is the term being tossed around as a rallying cry regardless of its meaning?