John McCain insists, like his opponents, that the federal government must bail out all home mortgages. He knows that this essentially means a government takeover — a literal nationalization — of the lending industry. If this isn’t socialism, I don’t know what is. Yet, at one and the same time, he condemns his opponents for supporting redistribution of wealth, socialized medicine, more arbitrary government power for union bosses, and other socialist measures. He’s right in his criticisms. But how does he square these criticisms with his own very major plan for socialism? He can claim, as many Republicans do, that he doesn’t WANT socialism and it will only be “temporary” socialism. But all of human history thus far, including American history from the time of the New Deal, shows exactly the opposite. This is what John McCain missed in his campaign. He feels you can challenge the premises of socialism while accepting them yourself — in some cases, or perhaps in one major case. You can’t. If you state or imply that socialism is the way to go, then you get the real deal with the Democrats. If I wanted socialism, I would vote for people who want it more than anything — the Obama Democrats. Because I don’t want socialism, I want a candidate who opposes all socialist measures and ONLY seeks to go in the opposite direction. Most Americans, I suspect, are not sure what they want. They don’t want socialism but they don’t want capitalism, either. So which way will they go? There’s a danger they will go to the guy who’s more sure of what he’s talking about … however profoundly wrong he may be.