Spencer Bachus recently commented that he thought Obama was getting pushed too far to the left by some members of Congress:

But he said he is worried that he is being steered too far by the Congress: “Some of the men and women I work with in Congress are socialists.”

Asked to clarify his comments after the breakfast speech at the Trussville Civic Center, Bachus said 17 members of the U.S. House are socialists. 

A LOT of people immediately jumped all over Bachus as fear-mongering.  For some reason, a Republican mentioning someone has socialist agendas is fear mongering.  A Democrat claiming they are socialist gets a pass.  Go figure that one?  Here’s the reality of the situation that everyone is not allowed to mention or otherwise be taunted and stoned for fear-mongering.  I have actually mentioned a lot of this before, so bear with me.

The Congressional Progressive Caucus was originally founded by Bernie Sanders.  At the time, Sanders was an avowed socialist.  The only one in Congress.  The CPC was deeply integrated with the Democratic Socialists of America.  At one time, DSA published their membership.  Now, they don’t.  The last public listing I can find listed the following members of Congress.  The ones in bold are still in Congress.  The ones in italics, not.

Rep Earl Hilliard

(AL-07)

Rep Eni Faleomavaega

(AS-AL)

Rep Ed Pastor

(AZ-02)

Rep Lynn C Woolsey

(CA-06)

Rep George Miller

(CA-07)

Rep Nancy Pelosi

(CA-08)

Rep Fortney “Pete” Stark

(CA-13)

Rep Henry A. Waxman

(CA-29)

Rep Xavier Becerra

(CA-30)

Rep Julian C. Dixon

(CA-32)

Rep Esteban Edward Torres

(CA-34)

Rep Maxine Waters

(CA-35)

Rep George E. Brown

(CA-42)

Rep Bob Filner

(CA-50)

Rep Diane DeGette

(CO-01)

Rep Eleanor Holmes Norton

(DC-AL)

Rep Corrine Brown

(FL-03)

Rep Carrie P. Meek

(FL-17)

Rep Alcee L. Hastings

(FL-23)

Rep Cynthia A. McKinney

(GA-04)

Rep John Lewis

(GA-05)

Rep Neil Abercrombie

(HI-01)

Rep Patsy Mink

(HI-02)

Rep Jesse Jackson

(IL-02)

Rep Luis Gutierrez

(IL-04)

Rep Danny Davis

(IL-07)

Rep Lane Evans

(IL-17)

Rep Julia Carson

(IN-10)

Rep John Olver

(MA-01)

Rep Jim McGovern

(MA-03)

Rep Barney Frank

(MA-04)

Rep John Tierney

(MA-06)

Rep David Bonior

(MI-10)

Rep Lynn N. Rivers

(MI-13)

Rep John Conyers

(MI-14)

Rep Bennie G. Thompson

(MS-02)

Rep Melvin L. Watt

(NC-12)

Rep Donald Payne

(NJ-10)

Rep Jerrold Nadler

(NY-08)

Rep Major Owens

(NY-11)

Rep Nydia M. Velazquez

(NY-12)

Rep Charles Rangel

(NY-15)

Rep Maurice Hinchey

(NY-26)

Rep John LaFalce

(NY-29)

Rep Marcy Kaptur

(OH-09)

Rep Dennis Kucinich

(OH-10)

Rep Louis Stokes

(OH-11)

Rep Sherrod Brown

(OH-13)

Rep Elizabeth Furse

(OR-01)

Rep Peter A. DeFazio

(OR-04)

Rep Chaka Fattah

(PA-02)

Rep William Coyne

(PA-14)

Rep Carlos A. Romero-Barcelo

(PR-AL)

Rep Robert C. Scott

(VA-03)

Rep Bernard Sanders

(VT-AL)

Rep James A McDermott

(WA-07)

Now, these are people that at one time were members of the Democratic Socialists of America.  Now, this list includes:

• The Speaker of the House
• The Chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor
• The Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce
• The Chairman of the Committee on Financial Services
• The Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security
• The Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary
• The Chairman of the House Small Business Committee
• The Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee
• The Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means

So, I just don’t get why a Republican mentioning the mere fact that there are socialists in Congress is fear-mongering when about fifty members openly say they are.

Does that mean anything?  Sure it does.  Go to the DSA web page and look at their agenda.  Then, compare that to Obama’s agenda so far outside of reacting to emergencies.

Now, I’m not fear-mongering for posting this.  This country has adopted some socialist tendencies for about one hundred years or so.  Once they started collecting federal taxes and distributing it to the people, they became socialist to a degree.  I am not naive enough to think our modern society could not function with certain levels of socialism.  However, the debate on the national level is to what degree we want to have socialism.  I am for a very limited degree.  The members of the Democratic Socialists of America want a much larger degree.  That is the debate we’ll fight for at least four years.  Whether you want to accuse Obama of being socialist or not is debatable.  Stating Nancy Pelosi is a socialist being as she either is or was a member of DSA is not debatable.

Sure, Spencer Bachus apparently didn’t have a clue how many members are socialists.  It appears he guessed way too low.  But, the bigger picture to me is why so many people will not allow the discussion of socialists in Congress even happen.  What are they so afraid of?

Tags: alcee hastings, barney frank, Bennie Thompson, Bernie-Sanders, bob-filner, chaka fattah, Charles Rangel, congress, congressional progressive caucus, corrine brown, danny-davis, democratic socialists of america, dennis-kucinich, diane degette, Donald Payne, ed pastor, eleanor holmes norton, Eni Faleomavaega, george miller, henry-waxman, jerrold-nadler, jesse-jackson, jim mcdermott, jim mcgovern, John Lewis, John Olver, John Tierney, john-conyers, luis-gutierrez, Lynn Woolsey, Marcy Kaptur, Maurice Hinchey, maxine-waters, Melvin Watt, nancy pelosi, Neil Abercrombie, pete-stark, peter defazio, Robert Scott, Sherrod Brown, socialist, spencer bachus, Xavier Becerra