Maxine Waters: “I Am Not a Socialist”

Maxine Waters:

(UnitedVoice.com) – Critics might say Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) has a history of making inflammatory statements during her more than 30.years in Congress. Recently, Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) confronted the Californian over past comments she made about “socializing” businesses. Waters replied, “I’m not a socialist.”

Roy, Waters and the House Rules Committee were discussing Representative Maria Elvira Salazar’s resolution Denouncing the Horrors of Socialism when Roy brought up a statement Waters originally made during a Congressional House hearing in 2008. Roy read an excerpt of her original statement and then asked her whether she stood by it.

Waters took a beat to reply, complaining she felt the committee was wasting time, but then answering she wasn’t a socialist. “I’m a capitalist.” She vowed to save institutions like Social Security and Medicare to ensure the welfare of seniors and veterans. In the last portion of her statement, she seemed to challenge a portion of the committee whom she felt might have defined socialism differently, especially because they identified her as a socialist. She said, “… I’m here to say to you, come on.”

In 2008, Waters and others questioned oil company executives from Shell Oil Co., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips, BP America, and Exxon Mobil Corp. about company profits, their executive compensation packages, and the exorbitant costs of fossil fuel products.

In times of national emergency and war, the US has nationalized companies or industries for a time to ensure the country’s material or economic welfare and safety. The most recent example is the 2009 bailout of GM and Chrysler.

The limited and rarely used US model of business nationalization differs significantly from that of South and Central American nations or the island of Cuba, from which Salazar’s family fled. Given the horrors described in Salazar’s resolution as a consequence of Socialist governments collapsing into Communism, Dictatorships, or totalitarian regimes, Roy’s commitment to Democracy is understandable.

Ultimately, Waters seemingly withdrew her support for her 2008 statement when Roy pressed her on the issue.

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