With all due respect, you couldn't be more wrong. Granted, your definition of socialism is correct, but how do you imagine a society reaches the state described in that definition? It's not that Obama's policies are by definition socialist - as in the end result of socialism. His policies are what leads to a socialist state. In order to achieve a collective society, you must first penalize production and heavily tax the producers of society, which puts their earned wealth into the hands of the government for purposes of redistribution and expansion of government programs and power. This is the Obama plan. He has said and written as much both now and in the past. But let's discuss some of the points you made: "What he supports is lowering taxes for the middle class and raising taxes for the top 1% of wage earners (those who earn over $250,000 per year)." Well, actually - in his most recent address to the country during his 30-minute infomercial, he said that families making less than $200,000 will not see a tax increase. He has also said that 95% of wage earners will not see a tax increase, which means that 5% will. Here's the problem: About 40% of wage earners pay no federal income taxes and many of them actually receive money from the government. How can you reduce taxes for 95% of wage earners when 40% don't pay taxes? And according to the IRS, the top 50% of wage earners already pay 97% of all federal income taxes. "And this is not really even a tax increase--it is just restoring taxes to what they were before Bush came into office." You can call it whatever you like, but if taxes are going to go up, it is an increase in taxes. "When McCain misleadingly calls Obama a socialist, he really means that Obama wants to make the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes." "Pay their fair share"? The top 50% already pay 97% of all income taxes...is that not "fair" enough? What exactly is your definition of "fair"? "Bush and McCain are pro business, pro wealthy." What's the problem with being pro-business or pro-wealthy? Have you ever received a wage-earning job from a poor person or a non-business? When the government is anti-business or anti-wealthy, that's when businesses leave the country and the wealthy keep their money off-shore or invest in other markets other than our own. You can't be anti-business or anti-wealthy and have a strong economy. "The current administration has bent over backwards for the wealthy and big business and it hasn't exactly worked wonders for the economy of the United States." Actually, it did "work wonders" for our economy after the slow economic period in early 2001 and after the September 11th terrorist attacks. We had about five or six years of pretty solid growth. This current problem we are experiencing has nothing to do with tax rates - it has to do with flawed government policies and oversight in the mortgage lending markets. "Nothing Barack Obama has said is supportive of socialism." Now that is disingenuous. Obama has said a lot of things that expose his socialist tendencies. There were recordings released just this past week where he lamented during a 2001 interview that the Supreme Court did not address the issue of "redistribution" during the Civil Rights movement. He actually used the words "economic redistribution" when complaining that the courts did not go far enough to address social injustices. During the primaries, Obama said he would raise capital gains taxes for purposes of "fairness" - despite the fact that the moderator pointed out that when capital gains taxes are raised, revenue to the government decreases. The very purpose of taxation is to fund the government, not to be "fair" - that is the socialist paradigm. "He wants to give power (and money) back to the middle class, instead of making us shoulder the burden for the rest of the country." Again...the middle class does not "shoulder the burden for the rest of the country." Unless you redefine what the middle class is. And what do you suppose will happen to the middle class when businesses are taxed more? Any businessman will tell you that when their overhead increases (from taxes or whatever other reason) they look to cut costs in other areas and/or raise prices. One of the largest costs to any business is payroll. So, not only could you be paying more for your products and services, you may just lose your job as well. "Barack Obama is intelligent, understands economic principles, and is prepared to defend the country, and cares about YOU." I would argue that Obama does not understand economic principles - considering his economic proposals. Considering his national defense and foreign policy proposals, I don't believe he is ready to defend this country. And with both of those topics considered, I don't believe he cares about me. The fact of the matter is, we don't know what he will do. We only know what he says he will do. And that's not sounding too good. *If you're interested in reading my articles, Click Here.