Socialist

You would think that James Warren would be the Maytag Repairman of politicians, the loneliest one in America.After all, he is the presidential candidate of the Socialist Workers Party, holding high the banner of proletarian revolution at a time when collective economies are crumbling worldwide and capitalism is idolized.But Mr. Warren rejects that conventional wisdom. "This is the best time to be a socialist since the Russian revolution," he declares.Mr. Warren, 40, a steel worker in Chicago, yesterday wound up a three-day trip to Maryland and campaigned outside the Bethlehem Steel Corp.

President Barack Obama opened a can of worms when he said that no one could be successful without the government's help. We all know that our taxes pay for the infrastructure, safe streets and protection from outside enemies. We also know that the government impedes rather than helps independent business owners. President Obama is choosing the socialist/communist way, and we know how that is going to end. Haven't we seen the Soviet Union collapse? Jack Rosay, Baltimore

ROBERT Kaufman finally made the news, but both of us figure he could have done without the lumps, bruises and the stab wound to the neck. Kaufman is Baltimore's perennial candidate for public office. This time around, he's running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Paul Sarbanes. Kaufman often faxes me news releases about his candidacy and positions. He calls me about his socialist policies, his demand that American troops be withdrawn immediately from Afghanistan and Iraq, his insistence that drugs need to be decriminalized and a wealth of other ideas fresh off Planet Leftwing.

Word had barely come down that the Supreme Court majority was upholding the Affordable Care Act when incensed conservatives began printing up "Impeach Jon Roberts" t-shirts and a hacker had altered the chief justice's title on his Wikipedia page to "Chief Traitor of the United States. " On a freshly minted "Impeach John Roberts" Facebook page, one tea party "patriot" wrote: "Welcome to fascism. Thanks to this horrible decision from the 4 liberal justices and John Roberts there is zero limit to what the government can force us to do. " Outside of the perpetually alarmed right-wing loony bin, however, Mr. Roberts was receiving praise for acting as the fair umpire he promised to be when he was first confirmed by the Senate.

MADRID, Spain -- The leader of the conservative Popular Party, Jose Maria Aznar, cleared the last hurdle yesterday to become Spain's prime minister, winning a vote of confidence in Parliament and ending 13 years of Socialist governments.Aznar, who will be sworn into office today in front of King Juan Carlos, defeated his longtime Socialist nemesis, Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez, on March 3. But his party won only 156 seats in Parliament, 20 short of a majority, and Aznar was elected prime minister yesterday only after making concessions to smaller regional parties, mainly a coalition of Catalan nationalists, that want more self-rule for Spain's regions.

TORONTO -- The new socialist premier of Ontario, Canada's largest and richest province, spent most of his first weeks in office trying to dispel widespread fears that he is a dangerous radical.Robert Keith Rae, 42, an affable, boyish-looking Rhodes scholar who never thought he'd actually be elected as the nation's second-most-powerful politician, insists that socialism is "not a swear word," but a proud tradition in Canadian politics."This is all part of the 'I am not a wacko' campaign," Mr. Rae deadpanned to a steady procession of visitors.

A web of misfortune seems only to deepen for Baltimore's best-known Socialist, A. Robert Kaufman. The perennial candidate - who has never won an election - was nearly knifed to death last year by a tenant in his West Baltimore boarding house, and suffered kidney failure as a result of the injuries. Since then, he hasn't been shy about asking just about anyone - even his imprisoned attacker - for a kidney that might turn around his health. And now, like deja vu, he's been attacked again, by another tenant.

MADRID, Spain - A sober Spain embarks today on an uncertain era of change, with a new Socialist government determined to erase the conservatism of recent years and reverse a foreign policy exceedingly favorable to the United States. Thirty-five days after one of Europe's deadliest terror attacks shook Spain to its core, parliament endorsed Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero yesterday as the country's prime minister. He was to be sworn in by King Juan Carlos today. Zapatero, as he is universally known, and his Socialist Workers Party won national elections March 14, three days after bombs ripped through four crowded commuter trains in Madrid, killing nearly 200 people.

MIAMI - Sen. Barack Obama accused Sen. John McCain, his Republican presidential rival, yesterday of trying to distract Americans from the nation's economic turmoil by suggesting the Democratic candidate is a socialist. With less than a week before Election Day, Obama used stinging language as the pair battled over tax policies. McCain campaigned yesterday in Florida on the economy before turning to foreign affairs. Obama was in North Carolina en route to the Sunshine State, which is important to both campaigns.

THE process of saving Chile from socialism turned out to be a squalid affair that lasted 17 years, during which Chilean democracy was extinguished by a particularly unattractive military dictatorship. What made it so offensive was that it often mimicked -- in extra-constitutional violence, sheer thuggery and naked oppression -- the very process by which various communist revolutionaries "saved" their nations from capitalism. And now Chile has another duly elected socialist president, Ricardo Lagos, cheered by crowds in Santiago this past week as he acknowledged the presence of the widow of the last duly elected socialist president, Salvador Allende.

Francehas elected only the second Socialist president in its history -- the first being Francois Mitterrand, who spent 14 years in the driver's seat back when French presidential terms lasted seven years rather than five, and who made a hard-right turn away from economic socialism and toward spending cuts after his first two years in office. The best France can hope for now is that the newly elected Francois Hollande takes a similar plunge into a pothole of pragmatism and douses any budding socialist ideas.

Michael Dresser 's fine article "Foes, supporters clash over Plan Maryland" (Dec. 12) finally made clear to me the statist, collectivist underpinnings of this "plan. " Reading about it on the Internet was futile because I was unable to penetrate the political camouflage. Mr. Dresser quotes Maryland Planning Secretary Richard Hall as saying "the plan does not create new law. " But Senate Minority leader E.J. Pipkin says "it should be a bill. " Herein lies the crux of the deception by the proponents of the "plan.

In the short time I have lived in Maryland, Martin O'Malley has certainly entertained me. His singing, for sure, as well as the pandering to every environmental or socialist cause available. Targeting Washington Republicans for stomping on the economy by holding the line on the federal debt limit, though, went way beyond being entertaining. Governor O'Malley and his cronies representing Baltimore and Prince Georges County have rammed through a myriad of rules, restrictions and plain old bureaucratic hurdles for the Maryland economy.

Once again the Obama administration has demonstrated how it regularly ignores or bypasses its vaunted claims of transparency. Our socialist-progressive president recognizes that his nominee (Dr. Donald Berwick – another socialist-progressive) will never pass muster in the U.S. Senate without having to outline his philosophy and planned policies. It is obvious that a broad airing of Dr. Berwick's ideas (by the way, that's called transparency) will outrage the American people so there has to be an alternative.

It is interesting that The Sun sent Tom Schaller, top resident socialist from academia, the largest bastion of socialism, to tell us we are a "far cry from socialism" in America. He is only partly right. We are on a definite path to socialism. With the government taking over major industries, such as the auto industry, the health care industry and attempting to regulate the Internet, it won't be long until we in America will be suffering the same fates as those European countries he and most other liberals adore.

An insidious plan is being implemented by the Obama administration and the Democrat-led Congress to transform this nation into a socialist state. Following the financial crisis caused by the government itself, the government passed stimulus and bailout plans creating a huge debt and a takeover of much of the financial and auto industries. The health care reform bill, passed against the objection of the majority of American people, will lead to an expensive government-run single payer plan giving the government control over our personal lifestyles and the rationing of health benefits.

Stockholm -- IN THE mid-1980s, when my conservative friends in the United States would criticize Swedish socialism, I warned that America might someday become the world's last socialist country. The events of the past few years show I was closer to the truth than even I had imagined.While the Reagan years provided a brief respite from excessive regulation, high tax rates, and massive income redistribution -- common to all socialist countries -- little was done to permanently shrink the bloated federal bureaucracy.

Once again the Obama administration has demonstrated how it regularly ignores or bypasses its vaunted claims of transparency. Our socialist-progressive president recognizes that his nominee (Dr. Donald Berwick – another socialist-progressive) will never pass muster in the U.S. Senate without having to outline his philosophy and planned policies. It is obvious that a broad airing of Dr. Berwick's ideas (by the way, that's called transparency) will outrage the American people so there has to be an alternative.

A ll Bob Kaufman ever wanted was peace on earth, the redistribution of wealth, an end to the war on drugs, affordable car insurance for city dwellers and a new kidney. He had to settle for 37,803 votes. That would be a formidable number - twice what second-place finisher Keiffer Mitchell won in the 2007 Democratic primary for Baltimore mayor - if ithadn't taken Kaufman five elections to collect them. After the socialist and perennial candidate died Friday, I got to wondering just how many votes he'd won running for offices ranging from Baltimore City Council to president of the United States.

MIAMI - Sen. Barack Obama accused Sen. John McCain, his Republican presidential rival, yesterday of trying to distract Americans from the nation's economic turmoil by suggesting the Democratic candidate is a socialist. With less than a week before Election Day, Obama used stinging language as the pair battled over tax policies. McCain campaigned yesterday in Florida on the economy before turning to foreign affairs. Obama was in North Carolina en route to the Sunshine State, which is important to both campaigns.