[W]ith the stock-market crash in 1929 and the Great Depression, the socialist and interventionist tide overwhelmed America like a tsunami. Franklin Roosevelt seized upon the crisis to revolutionize America's economic system. Seizing upon the economic principles of both the socialists and fascists, the primary mission of the federal government became taxing some to give to others and regulating economic and business activity. The era of laissez faire had come to an end.
But Roosevelt was a brilliant politician. He understood that Americans generally had a deep revulsion against socialism and fascism. So, he simply convinced them that all his welfare-statism and interventionism, including Social Security, the SEC, the NIRA, and the FHA weren't socialistic or fascistic but instead simply free-market mechanisms to save America's free-enterprise system.
It worked. And that's the way it's been ever since.
Calling a US politician socialist is the same as calling him or her mainstream. If they believe in free markets, sound money and the Constitution - like Ron Paul - they are considered radical and are marginalized and denigrated by our leaders. So, calling Obama a socialist does not differentiate him from most of the Republican politicians who believe government can solve any problem.
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