Who needs a reincarnation of Joe McCarthy while we have Glenn Beck to do the ranting and raving Monday through Friday on Fox Cable News [sic]?

McCarthyism in 2010
I've about had it up to here (flattened hand well above the level of my eyes) with Glenn Beck's rants and raves about President Obama being a socialist, Marxist, communist, racist and God-and-America-hating liberal (said with a low growl) scourge on humanity. I'll leave it to another time to discuss the distinct differences among the various labels we have put on various economic and political systems, but a quick peek at the excellent verbiage in Wikipedia under "socialism" would help--although it's clear that Mr. Beck has no idea what the subject is even about.

If it's on one of Rupert Murdoch's cue-cards or on the Fox Cable News teleprompter in the vicinity of Glenn Beck, that's sufficient to get a dizzying and hateful act of fear-mongering at its worst.

It's sufficient to mention that there are two systems, both often referred to as "socialism", but actually quite different. One is socialism as practiced in the former "people's democracies" of the Soviet bloc, considered to be a precursor to communism and the other is better known as "social democracy", and is practiced to a greater or lesser extent in most western European countries.

Actually, Obama is neither although I might find myself leaning towards the latter more conventional definition.

The former definition almost always degenerated into totalitarianism.

Beck has on at least two occasions denigrated the public transportation systems of France and Germany--which he cites as only one of the failures in these countries stemming from their "socialist systems" of economics and politics. I'd personally recommend he spend eight to ten years in either place (for my family, it was Germany).

Germany has a population density of almost 600 people per square mile, more than all but 4 states in the US (NJ, RI, Mass. and Conn.) so to expect the same type of transportation services is silly. Oregon with 39 people per square mile has wonderful mass transit in Portland (the only place that needs it) and none anywhere else. How would a high speed rail compete with Southwest Airlines at $99 for a flight to San Francisco (which has a train from the airport to downtown every 20 min at the most).

Please, Mr. Beck, don’t just travel someplace and pretend to understand the good and bad features of its governmental structure. I don't truly believe I fully understand the good and bad features of the German culture/government/economic system after having lived there for almost a decade.

Live in France or Austria for a period of time. Take a subway ride out to the poor suburbs surrounding Paris (I did!) and see if you feel safe (I did!). Learn to work your way through the day to day life. Get a drivers license, find an apartment, get a land line phone, get a job and pay taxes. Until then you will not understand the meaning of a democratic socialist nation. Perhaps then you will have a better feeling of whether people are happier and more secure or not.

In the meantime take a lesson learned from the late Senator Joe McCarthy and don't equate every more egalitarian "welfare" society than ours as a gigantic step towards "Atheistic Communism" (your words, not mine). Newsweek recently reported that Finland and Switzerland were the two best countries in the world within which to live. Both are as egalitarian welfare states as you could ask for.

For the record, I never feared for my life anywhere in Western Europe during the 1980s while my family and I lived there--even with the Soviet Bloc states right next door.

It's funny that Socialism is such a magic "bad" word in America. We're not talking about the totalitarianism of communism on the march, but a more egalitarian society where the gradations between poor, Middle Class, and rich are less pronounced, as it was in the 1950's while I was in high school and undergraduate classes in Cleveland, Ohio.

I'm very tired of the "Capitalist" game of who's got the most marbles. It is not only sadly funny but also poignantly destructive. I have travelled in the 'socialist' countries like Canada and France. These countries have vibrant, attractive, and safe cities unlike our often decaying aged hulks in which we fear to tread. It is my perception that the citizens of these countries are happier and more secure because they are less concerned about the personal consequences of economic turmoil. Finally, they have the most advanced mass transportation high speed passenger trains in the world. You be the judge. Why is Socialism a curse here when it seems to be working just fine for our Allies? Was Eisenhower a communist because there were 90% marginal tax rates on our richest citizens?

We've had over a decade of demagoguery now. Karl Rove took it mainstream with both Bush campaigns, and after 2010 special interests kicked it into hyperdrive with the Tea Party.

The U.S. is a nation in decline, and it is also a nation without a powerful vision for the future. Who are we? Who do we want to be? I thought Obama could articulate and push such a vision forward but he's been stopped by Senate filibusters and the Party of No at every turn.

Until Congress and the President provide a real vision for the future--and that future vision grabs the American imagination, no amount of rational argument is going to be enough to counter the angry, fearful folks like Glenn Beck from clamoring for the imaginary American past.

Beck's movement, if a movement it be, is a fascist moment--it could lead to the birth of American fascism. Reason does not apply here, but a powerful progressive vision just might, if only we (largely Congress) had one.

Who is/was the greater demagogue?
A demagogue |ˈdeməˌgäg¬| is nothing more than a charismatic leader (not simply political, but often popularly watched talking heads on television) who seeks support by appealing to popular desires and prejudices rather than by using rational arguments.