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Opinion

Commentary: Takes a socialist to know one

The Lexington Herald-Leader

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October 30, 2008 02:31 PM

This editorial appeared in the Lexington Herald-Leader on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008.

Talk about the audacity of hope: John McCain is hoping that voters will believe that Barack Obama is a socialist.

The convenient thing for McCain is that people can imagine that socialism is anything that scares them: Stalin, Mao, uppity ones, the IRS.

And while there are plenty of things to be scared about right now, socialism isn't one of them — unless you're thinking of the massive redistribution of wealth from working Americans to the bastions of capitalism as part of the $700 billion government bailout of Wall Street bankers.

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Socialism is not like pregnancy. You can be a little socialist, and, thank goodness, this country always has been.

Otherwise we wouldn't have public schools and universities, public highways, Social Security or Medicare.

To read the complete editorial, visit The Lexington Herald-Leader.

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