by Marvina Randle

Created on: November 21, 2008   Last Updated: November 27, 2008

DEMOCRACY OR SOCIALISM?

If the majority of voters choose a socialist leader, is our government still a democracy? With much discussion prior to election about Obama being a socialist, conservative media gave the slogan, "spread the wealth" a loud voice. The economic crisis put the fear campaign about terrorism and the Iraq war on the back burner, leaving a large void in the political argument. Using the technique they knew best, they used the fear factor to question Obama's religious convictions, trying to build a scandal over the Reverend Wright incident. Gaining little traction there, they used the same fear factor for the financial crisis.

The conservative base attempted to convince voters a socialist government would swoop down and steal their hard earned money and give it to lazy, poor, uneducated people who chose their own path. In making such claims they under estimated the principles of democracy and the power of the people.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines democracy as: 1. Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives. 2. A political unit based on this form of rule. This same dictionary defines socialism as: A system or theory of social organization in which the producers possess both political power and production and distributing means.

For years American's failed in their duty to "pay attention." The unheard chant of the masses was their vote didn't count, so why bother? This belief was not an accident but a planned attack against democracy by people who got elected by making sure that the people adversely affected by their decisions would stay at home on Election Day. The public made it easy for those in charge to favor big business for big campaign contributions. Believing their vote didn't count worked. No vote meant they had no voice in the decisions.

This planned attack worked well through many elections but as time rolled on the willingness of our leaders to allow corporate greed and corruption to control our nation grew. The working public and the barely surviving poor were told to hang on, that the "trickle down effect" would reach them soon. They watched and waited as factories closed to move overseas; pension plans, health plans, and wages deteriorated on the jobs left; gas and energy prices soared; and people began losing their homes. They reflected on the stories of roadblocks and false data banks preventing people from voting in 2000; on reports of electronic voting fraud; and how they felt

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