It used to be that there was a certain amount of stigma attached to being a Socialist in this country- but to our first Socialist President it is resume enhancer.
He awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Tuesday to Dolores Huerta, an 82-year-old labor activist and co-founder of the United Farm Workers union. She’s also a board member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
The Discover the Networks profile on Huerta:
- Co-founder and First Vice President Emeritus of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO (“UFW”)
- Board member of the Democratic Socialists of America
- Founding board member of the Feminist Majority
- Board member of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
- Opposes War on Terror
- “It’s always been a part of U.S. foreign policy to first put a dictator in power and than to get rid of him.”
The Foundry reported:
Huerta is also an honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America.
DSA describes itself as “the largest socialist organization in the United States, and the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International.”
Huerta has claimed, “Republicans hate Latinos,” and has spoken fondly of Hugo Chavez’s despotic regime in Venezuela.
The Medal of Freedom is awarded to individuals who have made “especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.
This isn’t the first time Obama has awarded a Socialist with the Medal of Freedom.
In August of ’09, he awarded the medal to Sidney Poitier, who was described as a “classic poolside Socialist”, after the actor had publicly recommended that the salaries of CEOs everywhere be capped to $500,000 per year.
And in 2010, Obama named AFL-CIO President Emeritus John Sweeney a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Sweeney is an advocate of European-style democratic socialism. He has opened the AFL-CIO to participation by delegates openly linked to the Communist Party, which enthusiastically backed his ascent. The U.S. Communist Party [CPUSA] says it is now ‘in complete accord’ with the AFL-CIO’s program.
Three and a half years into this disastrous Presidency, it’s hard to be shocked by anything he does, anymore.
SEE ALSO:
More on how the important Medal of Freedom ceremony was “upstaged by ignorance and incompetence”:
The All American Blogger: Smartest President Ever Screws Up Awards Ceremony and Insults An Entire Culture In One Swift Move
While posthumously awarding Jan Karski the Medal of Freedom, he referred to Nazi Concentration Camps located in Poland during World War II as “Polish Death Camps.”
The Poles took offense, and rightly so…
Yeah, he’s definitely got his “cool” back.
UPDATE:
The Right Scoop: Rush Limbaugh: Awarding a professed Marxist the Presidential Medal of Freedom tells us who Obama really is
Linked by Michelle Malkin, thanks!
PREVIOUSLY:
Uncovered Ad Shows Obama Appeared At 1996 Event Hosted By Democratic Socialists of America
Don’t Let the Organized Left’s Charges of “McCarthyism” Deter You – Allen West Is Right
The First Time The Ayers Family’s Mailman Heard of Barack
Nice Deb 
I suggest that we limit the salaries of all the blowhards in Hollywood to 500K… Huh? Poitier? Beullar? Beullar?
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I suggest that we limit our office holders to Patriotic Americans. . . . . .
Oh and I also suggest we rekindle the “House on Unamericans Committee” and the McCarthy Hearings.
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Soon! [Before we lose our Country]
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This “not so wise Latina” Huerta, is one of the most strident, anti-American, racist, low IQ types you’ll ever come across. She needs her US citizenship revoked and sent to her beloved Meh-hee-co (along with about 20 million more of her amigos).
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Another award rendered meaningless.
After the Nobel Peace Prize was tarnished, it was to be expected.
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Regardless her political affiliations now, Huerta did great work for civil rights and for the expansion of protection for farm workers and farm products. Great humanitarian actions like hers deserve recognition, don’t you think?
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As a Socialist, she spent her whole life undermining our capitalist system, and stridently attacking Republicans so no – I don’t think.
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Actually, Ed. . . . I totally agree with ND who says no.
I prefer individuals who are to receive that award {the highest civilian award] be someone of the character of a full fledged patriot, who doesn’t or hasn’t advocated the overthrow of the government and has actually contributed something.
Now I could present a dozen reasons why Madeline [not so] Bright shouldn’t get the award but, I would understand why dopey libs would want to give her the award. And as far as Dylan, I enjoy his music but, there is no way he should’ve gotten this award either.
Call me silly though. Just another cheapening of something that once meant something, kind of goes along with the individual who now holds the highest office.
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The President, Barack Obama is a fraud. Now, Hawaii is involved in the cover-up and the fraud of this man is going to be exposed. (video-+30minutes):
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Dolores Huerta qualifies fully — she’s a lifelong patriot, a waver of the U.S. flag, and an organizer for community good wherever she’s been.
Making good work for thousands of workers, organizing a strike that won basic job rights for tens of thousands of workers, building schools for the poor across California, building good citizens and good communities — there are few greater patriots in that regard than Dolores Huerta.
Deb: You’re holding my post with the information on the other awardees. Why?
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A “patriot” and “good citizen,” in the traditional American liberal sense of the words, is anathema to socialism and its tenets. Thus, she, being one that openly espouses ideals in direct contradiction to the bedrock principles that our nation was founded upon, is not a patriot. Socialism kills…when the people clamoring for the filthy ideology get their way. Ms. Huerta and her ilk are anti-patriots and deserve no admiration from Americans (or anybody else) that values the opportunities that the USA provides. Or provided…Obama and his cabal of Marxist radicals are toppling our once-great nation apace.
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I’m not holding anything, it may have been dumped accidentally with a bunch of other spam.
What did you have to say about the other awardees, none of whom I had a beef?
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Repost:
I’m troubled that you failed to mention the other dozen awardees. You make it sound political, instead of inspirational, by your omission of the great captains of industry, leadership, science and the arts who were honored. From the White House press release:
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Darrell you are such a pathetic flack. Why you would take up space on my blog bringing up Obama’s other awardees when they had nothing to do with my post? The post was about the controversial awardee. What is even your point?
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I believe you err by omission. You suggest Huerta unworthy, and you imply a less-than-savory agenda for Obama — in context, your complaint wilts. This is a great group of patriots. Clearly, from the list, one can tell Obama’s intent is to honor great Americans.
So, then, what is your odd kick about Huerta? She’s a great woman, a patriot, an organizer of schools, an inveterate defender of the United States to those who would run our nation down.
How many kids have you dragged out of poverty lately that you have the honor to tie this woman’s shoes?
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Or, do you find all of the people on the list to be “socialist” and unworthy? We hear a lot of that criticism of Juliette Gordon Low down here — you’re among her critics, too?
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A socialist, by any rational use of logic, cannot be “an inveterate defender of the United States.” But keep flogging that dead mule.
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Excuse me, I err by omission? This is my blog. I decide what is and isn’t newsworthy here, not you. The newsworthy part of the story was that he was honoring a SOCIALIST (and not for the first time) among the other not so objectionable awardees – who don’t interest me in the least.
That you would call a woman who speaks admiringly of Hugo Chavez a “patriot” tells us all we have to know about you.
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If we were to be pendantic, we’d note that Huerta is not a socialist. She does not advocate government owning and controlling any “means of production” in any industry.
So, calling her a “socialist” is wrong, by von Hayek’s definitions.
But you think it sounds nasty, and it certainly flags you as one who either doesn’t understand economics or doesn’t care enough about accuracy to get the labels right, so it acts as a warning to the rest of us, about you and your views.
Don’t flog dead horses. It’s macabre, and illegal in most jurisdictions.
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She self-identifies as a socialist and associates with socialists. She is a member of at least one group dedicated to socialism. I don’t need credentials or high-level education to conclude that she is a socialist. But if you want to jump through flaming hoops to distort a definition, then knock yourself out. Semantics mean nothing to leftist rabble.
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If we were to be pendantic, we’d note that Huerta is not a socialist. She does not advocate government owning and controlling any “means of production” in any industry.
If we wanted to be pedantic and correct, we’d note that socialism includes systems of common ownership as well as government ownership.
But you think it sounds nasty, and it certainly flags you as one who either doesn’t understand economics or doesn’t care enough about accuracy to get the labels right,
*Disconnects irony meter to avoid overheating*
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It’s sad that they can’t be honest about themselves.
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One more way that Dolores Huerta does not qualify as a socialist, but Abraham Lincoln (Gettysburg and Arlington National Cemeteries), U. S. Grant (Yellowstone National Park) and Teddy Roosevelt (Grand Canyon National Monument) do. Good catch, Geoff.
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What do national parks and cemeteries have to do with the common ownership of the means of production?
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One more way that…blah, blah, blah
Now Mssr. Darrell is apparently baffled by the difference between economic enterprise and his examples. With that sort of acumen he’s sure to be a strong candidate for the President’s cabinet.
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One more way that…blah, blah, blah
You do have a cite for that, don’t you? That a board member of the Democratic Socialists of American does not believe in a fundamental tenet of socialism? If true, that would make their board meetings pretty entertaining.
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With that sort of acumen he’s sure to be a strong candidate for the President’s cabinet.
Ed Darrell for Treasury Secretary!
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How is a National Park an example of common ownership?
And since you don’t seem to grasp various Socialistic principles, why should anyone believe you when you say someone isn’t a Socialist?
You don’t have a citation for any claim of Huerta advocating socialism,
What more do you need than Honorary Chair of Democrat Socialists of America?
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How are National Parks an example of common ownership? Perhaps you’re overthinking this: National Parks are owned by the government — which in this case, is the American people (“We the people,” you know).
Which socialist principle is it you think I don’t grasp, government ownership of the means of production, or government control of the means of production? It seems to me that you assert Huerta to be a socialist, and by implication, Obama; it’s your assertion, so where is your evidence?
Huerta deals in the private sector, labor contracting with private companies. There is no government ownership, no government control of production.
The Republican Party isn’t much on the republic anymore, either — are you really surprised that a group with “socialist” in its name isn’t, in fact, socialist?
Why do you care if Huerta is socialist in the first place? There’s no sin in it. She’s a practicing American patriot. She’s done a lot for workers, for kids, for voting and for education. Is that what really bothers people? No one has cited anything Huerta has ever done that might be a problem. You’re hung up on the word “socialist,” and you weren’t even sure what it means — still don’t seem clear on the concept to me.
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Perhaps you’re overthinking this: National Parks are owned by the government — which in this case, is the American people (“We the people,” you know).
No, common ownership has a specific meaning – one of which you’re apparently unaware:
Common ownership is a principle according to which the assets of an enterprise or other organization are held indivisibly rather than in the names of the individual members or by a
Thus, rather than being “owners” of the enterprise, its members are held to be trustees of it and its assets for future generations. Common ownership is a way of “neutralising” capital, and vesting control of an enterprise by virtue of participation in it, rather than by the injection of capital.
Many socialist movements advocate common ownership of the means of production as an eventual goal or outcome of development of the productive forces. Socialists make the distinction between collective ownership (such as corporate/private ownership and state ownership) and common property.[1]
In political philosophy, common ownership refers to joint or collective ownership by all individuals in society. Common ownership of the means of production is advocated, or asserted, by communism and some forms of socialism. Common ownership differs from collective ownership. The former means property open for access to anyone, and the latter means property owned jointly by agreement.[2] Examples of collective ownership include modern forms of corporate ownership as well as producer cooperatives, which are in contrast to forms of common ownership, such as a public park available to everyone.[3]
Common ownership of land is an example of customary land ownership in tribal societies which predates and runs simultaneously to the arrangement of colonised alienated land. Tribes and families living on the land have common ownership through tradition.
That’s what Geoff was talking about – not public lands like national parks.
Huerta deals in the private sector, labor contracting with private companies. There is no government ownership, no government control of production.
….
Why do you care if Huerta is socialist in the first place? There’s no sin in it. She’s a practicing American patriot.
LOL. Kinda twisting yourself into knots, there.
It’s always so awkward when you can’t be honest about what you are.
are you really surprised that a group with “socialist” in its name isn’t, in fact, socialist?
Now you’re trying to argue that the DSA isn’t Socialist?
In an article in DSA’s Democratic Left, Spring 2007, DSA National Political Committee member David Green of Detroit wrote in support of the Employee Free Choice Act – or “card check”.
What distinguishes socialists from other progressives is the theory of surplus value. According to Marx, the secret of surplus value is that workers are a source of more value than they receive in wages. The capitalist is able to capture surplus value through his ownership of the means of production, his right to purchase labor as a commodity, his control over the production process, and his ownership of the final product. Surplus value is the measure of capital’s exploitation of labor… Our goal as socialists is to abolish private ownership of the means of production.
Our immediate task is to limit the capitalist class’s prerogatives in the workplace…In the short run we must at least minimize the degree of exploitation of workers by capitalists. We can accomplish this by promoting full employment policies, passing local living wage laws, but most of all by increasing the union movement’s power…
You’re really trying my patience, Darrell. I can’t know if you’re arguing in good faith but are just wrong about EVERYTHING, or you’re just jerking me around to waste my time.
When someone tries to tell me that the Democratic Socialists of America aren’t Socialists, I find if hard to take that person seriously.
You’re on notice.
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I asked: “Why do you care if Huerta is socialist in the first place? There’s no sin in it. She’s a practicing American patriot.”
The answer?
I’m trying your patience? I asked a simple question, what is the basis of your argument? You can’t answer? Or you choose not to answer?
I try your patience by asking such basic questions?
I’m trying to discuss in good faith, yes. But when I ask a good faith question, you claim it’s bad faith.
Toulmin’s shorthand: That’s because the arguer doesn’t understand his/her own premises, and hates to have that called to anyone’s attention. Was Toulmin right?
I’m on notice, I suppose. The message I’m getting is that you can’t tolerate even very polite discussion that requires you to think about the bases of your claims. Is that the notice you intended?
If it’s such a simple answer that to hear the question tries your patience, could you do the courtesy of giving a straight answer? What’s the harm in Dolores Huerta, a certified American Patriot, joining a group called “socialist?”
By the way, common ownership is exactly what I was referring to. National Parks are, indeed, common ownership — as are all the federal public lands. Is that so bad, especially compared to the alternatives?
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You started out saying she was not a Socialist, then you said, so what if she’s a Socialist, what’s wrong with being a Socialist?, then you tried to tell me that the DSA weren’t Socialist. You’re either too confused or too dishonest to have a polite discussion with.
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What’s the harm in Dolores Huerta, a certified American Patriot, joining a group called “socialist?”
And there you have it. I think that question is damning enough that we can leave this discussion as is. BTW, who “certified” Ms. Huerta as an “American Patriot?” The President? QED.
National Parks are, indeed, common ownership — as are all the federal public lands.
But they’re not part of our economic system in any significant way.
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People of Springdale, Utah, West Yellowstone, Montana, Maryville, Tennessee, Whitefish, Montana, and the entire state of Alaska would beg to differ with you. Three million tourists are an economic force all their own.
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What a garbled argument. Sort it out and get back to me.
Just kidding. But for your own sake, try to understand the difference between private, capitalistic enterprise that takes advantage of local attractions, and a government-owned attraction that charges fees to defray costs.
And then realize that neither have anything to do with socialism.
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I’m not the one garbling the arguments. I did sort it out for you. Quit garbling.
Not kidding. For your own sake, and for the sake of discussion, please stick with a solid definition, and defend your case instead of claiming I’ve goofed when you don’t understand or can’t reply.
National Parks, and BLM lands, and National Forests, do not lend to the economy with fees they charge. They are commonly-owned resources, in many cases resources of great productive possibilities. The economic benefits don’t flow from the fees charged by governments, but instead by the users — tourists in the case of the National Parks, who drop huge dollars in private enterprises who provide lodging, food, guides, and other services. You can get into Yellowstone Park cheap: $25 per vehicle. But if you plan to see the place, you’re going to spend some time, with overnight stays. You’ll take meals. You’ll burn gasoline in your own vehicle, or pay a private company to drive you around (or fly over, in the case of the Grand Canyon N.P.). All of this is big business.
On other public lands outside the National Parks, we get the grazing for a huge portion of our beef and lamb, an enormous portion of our timber, and billions of dollars annually in mineral extraction fees (and that’s still practically giving the minerals away).
Big business based on government-owned means of production — it’s socialism of a magnificently American sort, as the Sagebrush Rebels keep reminding us (you can ignore them if you choose — they are only radical libertarians, after all, allies with you in many other forms of disbelief in American systems; but ignoring them is not a rebuttal to their accurate claim that government ownership is a form of socialism).
In contrast, Dolores Huerta works in areas where the land is held privately.
Your denials don’t change the facts.
If you’re going to indict Dolores Huerta for socialism, include in that indictment Abraham Lincoln, James Madison, the Rockefellers (including Laurence, who preserved Teton N.P. lands before they were designated for federal preservation), Teddy Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower and other advocates of the public lands.
Still no justification for trying to slam Dolores Huerta. Why not just agree it’s a bad idea to slam her, and celebrate an award to another American patriot?
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You have got to be kidding me. Huerta has spent her lifetime as a far-left-wing agitator, and has been arrested more than 20 times for her anti-American rabble rousing. She is no “patriot”.
From the Discover the Networks linked above:
In May 1973, Huerta was a sponsor and speaker at a Chicago conference where the Communist Party USA merged the Angela Davis Defense Organization with the Angela Davis Defense Committee to form the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.
Sometime around 1980, Michael Harrington recruited Huerta into the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, which in 1983 would merge with the New American Movement to form the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
In 1990, Huerta—along with such prominent leftists as Ramsey Clark and Barbara Ehrenreich—participated in The Committee for Responsive Democracy’s hearings on the “need for significant reform of the two-party political system, as well as the feasibility of forming a new party.”
In 1993, Huerta was honored with the annual Eugene Debs Award, named after the man who founded the Socialist Party of America.
In 1995-96, Huerta actively participated in the left’s unsuccessful effort to defeat Proposition 209, the California Civil Rights initiative, which sought to ban affirmative action in the state’s public sector.
In April 1998, Huerta was a guest speaker at “Making Trouble: Building a Radical Youth Movement”—a Berkeley, California conference where young radicals could meet and form coalitions around such issues as “Environmental Justice,” “Art and Revolution,” “Immigration,” “Third World Organizing,” “Economic Globalization,” “Affirmative Action,” and “Reproductive Rights.” Keynoted by Barbara Ehrenreich, the event also featured such speakers as Tom Hayden, Angela Davis, Cornel West, Barbara Lee, Jello Biafra, and Ron Dellums.
On November 6, 1999, Huerta spoke at a Los Angeles rally calling for a holiday to mark the birth of Cesar Chavez. The contact person for the event was Evelina Alarcon, an affiliate of both the United Farm Workers and the Communist Party USA.
Your attempt to turn National parks into an example of Socialism is tedious and pathetic.
You’ve bored me into banning you.
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Big business based on government-owned means of production
Not really. It’s big business that takes advantage of commonly owned property, which is entirely different. It’s at most a managed tragedy of the commons.
You’ve bored me into banning you.
Yeah – he’ll never get it.
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