George Rebane
[This is the submitted form of my column to The Union published in their 15sep12 print and online editions. The new Union website doesn’t appear to have date-specific URLs, and its contents, including my column, have no apparent permalinks. The column is available in their ‘e-edition’ which is an image of the print edition. There I see that some unfortunate edits have taken place that include the substitution of ‘hegemony’ for ‘hegemon’, and the capitalization throughout of obamunism. A reader points to the previous use of obamunism on protest signs, one of which I have added to this post. Obamunism is also added to the 15sep12 version of the Glossary & Semantics pdf.]
To say that President Obama is a unique piece of work in the Oval Office would be the understatement of this young century. This man, held in thrall by the country’s liberals, and also in increasing contempt by world leaders – friends and enemies alike – has devised and carried out a set of policies, procedures, and prerogatives in the Executive Branch that is turning out to be truly breathtaking in its sheer audacity. Because there is a good chance that we may see at least four more years of such a form of governance, we need to give it a name and an informative definition. Reasoned debate about it in the years to come requires such an extension of language.
I propose we call it obamunism – the ideology and form of administration that President Obama has practiced and promises to continue if he is re-elected as our Chief Executive. History will show that although certain previous presidents have also displayed aspects and vestiges of obamunism, Barack Obama is the nation’s first full-fledged obamunist President.
Obamunist ideology is formed around an amalgam of collectivist tenets. The overarching belief of obamunism is that society is best ruled by elitist experts who plan and harmoniously administer our economy, education, entertainment, and our home lives. Such a framework will require a fundamental transformation of the United States that is unimpeded by any historical documents and precedents.
The national objective of obamunism is that America will become a sharing and caring nation in a new global community of nations. That it will relinquish its role as a global hegemon, and assume a compliant posture made visible by its broad acceptance of international initiatives for sustainable development like those prescribed in the UN’s Agenda21 accords.
Anathema to obamunism are any domestic and foreign policies which will perpetuate the United States as an independent sovereign nation-state. Co-operation and conformity with our global neighbors is the only accepted measure of progress.
Obamunistic practice is predicated on the supremacy of the Executive Branch of government. The Legislative (Congress) and Judicial (Supreme Court) branches are relegated to supportive roles that facilitate the fundamental transformation to proceed apace. Delay or recalcitrance by either will be handled through pre-emptive executive orders and innovative regulatory interpretations of existing laws.
The private sector will continue to be co-opted through a growing dependency created by massive programs of corporate welfare implemented through ever more comprehensive tax and regulatory codes. The end game here is a strong public-private partnership the boundaries of which will ultimately become seamless. In the interval, small business start-ups and residual entrepreneurship will be tolerated to fill in the service and distribution gaps during the transformation phase.
The stability and continuity of obamunism will be managed through the increase of government’s participation in the GDP, the spread of organized labor through the growth of public service unions, and the tight control of public education along with its access and delivered curriculum. The objective here is to promulgate educational programs that build a co-operative workforce which always sees a welcoming government as the employer of last resort.
Public docility and acceptance will be controlled through the expansion of ‘rights’ which are defined for and bestowed upon classes of people as defined by government. Such rights will be juxtapositioned against the described advantages of classes who are deemed to resist the overall fundamental transformation of the country. Rights will be abetted by myriads of compensatory transfer payments to the supportive classes.
Public information will come through a new media-government cooperative whose administrators will be the final arbiters of fair and balanced delivery of news and opinions. The ability of moneyed interests to own and dictate programming content will be regulated and then ended as ‘the people’ ultimately become content providers and consumers of public media.
As a member of a strengthening global community, America’s military will be downsized and the savings transferred to the build-up of a “civilian national security force” that will assume control of all regional and local investigative and constabulary organs. New concepts of individual privacy and purview will be explored and implemented with the aid of technology to create harmonious, stable, and sustainable social environments at all local levels.
And finally, the United States Constitution will come under a program of intense review and revision. Its new form will be submitted to the people for acceptance after an appropriate period of education and clarification. At this time it is anticipated that America will have transformed itself into a peer member of the global community of nations under laws which transcend the old national borders. It is then that the obamunistic US presidency will truly become a stepping stone to higher office.
George Rebane is an entrepreneur and a retired systems scientist in Nevada County who regularly expands these and other themes on KVMR and Rebane’s Ruminations (www.georgerebane.com).
rebanesruminations.com 
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