Barack H. Obama in 1965

My mother sent me a link to a Politico article about an article written by Senator Barack Obama's father, Barack H. Obama in 1965. The title of the article is "Problems Facing Our Socialism," and is a review of a Kenyan government paper from earlier in that year. I've posted a copy of the article (PDF) on my own website.

He talks about how a high population growth rate is detrimental to economic growth, among other things. I'm guessing you didn't actually read this, because many of what he says I've heard in one form or another from you. "The paper states that there are universal desires of societies and these include political equality, social justice, human dignity and freedom of conscience, freedom from want, disease and exploitation, equal opportunities and, lastly, a high and growing per capita income and equitable distribution." Pretty much what I would expect from a Harvard education, and I think Thomas Jefferson would have liked this man. "The question is how are we going to remove the disparities in our country such as the concentration of economic power in Asian and European hands while not destroying what has already been achieved and at the same time assimilating these groups to build one country?" He is speaking in the context of non-violent cooperation.

Some people don't like the word socialism. They run from it without thinking, without considering the context, and they've bought into the illusion that socialism anywhere in the world is a threat to capitalism anywhere in the world. It's completely false. I've written about the subject here.

40 years and 12,000 miles removed from this election in this time and this place, things are being found to try and hurt the Obama campaign. I just find it ridiculous.