Avast! Socialists, Matey! (Or, Geithner Comes Out Swinging)

Today, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner proposed what amounts to a sweeping and autocratic takeover of the private-sector financial giants, now and in the future, under the direct discretion of the President and the Treasury Secretary. The Washington Post has the full details.

Do I think it's bad? No, actually. The era of big government did not, in fact, end in 1992, but it did get smaller. It got big today. Really big. Our markets are going to be regulated. As regulated as they were deregulated, and then some, probably. If Congress follows the wishes of Geithner and the President and passes the legislation already getting handed down from the White House, the ball is rolling on a full government takeover of the financial sector. It might take 20 years, but this is when Republicans should be screaming, "Socialist!"

Here's the thing: most of the truly socialist countries I've been to are happy, healthy, well-educated, enlightened liberal nations. Social democracy is one of the most effective and successful forms of government on the map. The problem here in the land of the free is that someone says, "socialist," and people hear, "communist." Accepting socialist principles is something we have been doing since the days of FDR at the latest, possibly since the authors of the Declaration of Independence were alive. We're just very careful not to call it socialism. But, I believe the Obama administration is putting forth such massive changes to the accepted way of doing things, it's easier and easier to see it for what it is.

I consider it the natural evolution of American democracy. America is still the premier democracy on the planet, but we've had some bad reviews, we're on final notice. I have often noted that I think foreign policy is going very smoothly, and it is, in part because Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are both so well-liked abroad. And both of them believe that the United States needs to reclaim its place as a global leader in human rights, equality, and advancing the cause of peace, albeit through war occasionally. Among other things, some good, some bad, but this is something very good about the Obama administration. And, if we are going to change the way we do things oversees, we need to change how we do things at home. Moving toward a socialist democratic model is certainly not a throwback.