The "Statist" revealed?

When Obama was running for president many of his opponents called him a "Statist" because of his long associations with many left wing radicals and associations, and his past socialist views. But Obama's campaign attributed these accusations to the right wing and convinced the American voters that he was a "centrist" and would pull this country together.

What is a "Statist"?
Wikipedia defines Statism as an ideology that advocates the use of government to achieve goals both economic and social. Economic statism promotes the ideology that the government should play a major role in directing the economy by heavy regulation or by government running major segments of industry (such as owning the country's auto industry). Social or political statism promotes the ideology that individual freedoms and rights are less important than the right of the government to"level the playing field" and insure that all citizens share equally in the productivity of the state - i.e. "redistribution of income". Historically, the classic examples of statism were the societies of Nazi Germany and the communist Soviet Union where the central government controlled every aspect of individual life.

I will not call Obama a "Statist" but look at what has happened since his administration was elected:

1/ The government bailed out many of the major banks and now owns or controls much of the financial industry. Government owned Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac control more than 50% of the mortgage market and many say are responsible for the housing "meltdown" by issuing mortgages to tens of thousands of unqualified buyers who eventually defaulted. Both of these government owned mortgage companies continue to lose massive amounts of money, yet are bailed out annually with taxpayer money.

2/ The government bailed out the failing auto industry and now along with the auto unions owns two of the three US auto companies.

3/ The 700 billion dollar stimulus program has resulted in few new private sector jobs but an increase of thousands of new government jobs. Government unemployment stands at half that of the private sector.

4/ The expansion of unemployment and welfare programs during the past year has been unprecedented resulting in many more citizens relying on the government for support, and has contributed toward pushing the national debt to the precipice.

5/ This new Health Care Bill gives the government unprecedented control over most aspects of the medical profession and in the opinion of many experts is just the first step toward elimination of private health care. The "statist" believes in "single payer" nationalized health care with government controlling all aspects of the medical industry. It is estimated that the government will need to hire 16,000 new IRS agents just to administer the mandates in this new bill.

6/ In addition, hidden in this Health Care bill is a complete government takeover of the College Student Loan Program which up to now has been administered by private companies.

7/ And finally, one of the next items on Obama's agenda is "Cap and Trade" - government regulation of carbon emissions, which could result in complete control of the energy industry and it's affect on each of our lives.

Is Obama a "Statist" - you make the call.