Barack Obama is a doctrinaire Marxist. Some people seem to have a problem with that fact. So, by popular demand, here is the definitive ‘Obama is a Marxist’ checklist:

Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto offers 10 planks to establish a communist state. They are:

1. Abolition of private property and the application of all rents of land to public purposes.

Obama has taken over two major car companies, is running major financial institutions, is in control of a large segment of the housing industry through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He ignores private property laws.

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

Obama wants to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire. He wants to raise capital gains taxes for the purpose of “fairness,” even though he has admitted such a move will decrease government revenues. He has said he wants to use the tax code to “spread the wealth around.”

3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.

Obama will allow the death tax to come back from the dead in 2011, allowing the government to seize over 50% of citizen’s estates.

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.

Nothing yet…

5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.

The Federal Reserve already exists, but through the stimulus and bailout funds, Obama is in more control of the nation’s capital than an other president in American history.

6. Centralization of the means of communications and transportation in the hands of the State.

Obama owns the car companies. The Federal Communications Commission is threatening to bring back the Orwellian “Fairness Doctrine” through a variety of means, most notably under the guise of “local ownership.” In addition, a new cyber security bill has given Obama an ‘internet kill switch.’

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state, the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.

This already essentially exists through a variety of government programs. However, the environmental aspect of this provision is pure Obama. His administration plans on using the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide.

8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

President Obama hikes the minimum wage. In addition, he supports another Orwellian bill, the Employee Free Choice Act, which would force nearly all American workers o form unions. As well, the stimulus bill was used to fund federal public works programs.

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries, gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of population over the country.

This plank has not been utilized to the best of my knowledge.

10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.

Public schools already exist. In addition, tucked in the Obamacare bill was a provision that made the federal government responsible for student loans, sending more American to university on the taxpayer’s dime.

As president, Barack Obama has fulfilled at least 8 of the 10 planks that Karl Marx identified as necessary to establish a communist state. While the United States is not the Soviet Union, and Barack Obama is not Stalin, Obama is a Marxist. Communism/Marxism/socialism appear in different forms in different countries, reflecting the distinct cultures of different nations. As such, it is unlikely that a Stalin like figure will ever take control in the United States. However, that does not mean that a president with a similar ideology cannot win an election, as Barack Obama has, most recently, proven.

(H/T LZ)