“I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer. … Repeal that [welfare] law, and you will soon see a change in their manners. St. Monday and St. Tuesday, will soon cease to be holidays. Six days shalt thou labor, though one of the old commandments long treated as out of date, will again be looked upon as a respectable precept; industry will increase, and with it plenty among the lower people; their circumstances will mend, and more will be done for their happiness by inuring them to provide for themselves, than could be done by dividing all your estates among them. –Benjamin Franklin

If there is one generalization that can be accurately asserted about Barack Hussein Obama and generations of Marxists before him, it is that they are and always have been, universally, hypocrites. They preach classist sermons to the masses, the foundational fodder upon which their failed socialist regimes are constructed, all while living lavish lifestyles characterized by elitism and overly conspicuous consumption.

This generalization holds not just for Western socialists, but also for their Soviet-era mentors, of which I am a first-hand witness.

In 1987, I stepped off an Aeroflot Tu-124 at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, grateful that the "aircraft” had made it all the way to our destination. My moment of gratitude was abruptly interrupted at the bottom of the aircraft steps by two pallid gents in off-the-rack suits who were accompanied by two humorless uniformed Militsiya regulars.

Apparently, my reputation had preceded me.

The suited fellows, representatives of the Soviet Committee for State Security, offered not so much as a simple “welcome.” Rather, they insisted that I turn over my credentials and possessions, and accompany them for an “interview.” We left the airport and drove to an aging gray building in central Moscow directly across from the Kremlin.

Once inside the building, my hosts informed me that I was a “guest” of the state, and would remain so until such time they determined I could leave. I was taken to a third-floor room, rather sparse in its furnishings, where I remained for three days. Though the accommodations were not up to Bedouin tent standards, the room did have a window with a splendid view of two entrances into the Kremlin.

Through that window by night shined the ominous Red Star atop Spasskaya Tower. By day, I could observe all the movement into and out of the Kremlin.

There was a sea of ubiquitous Soviet state-made autos making their way through the plaza in front of the Kremlin – Volgas, Ladas and Moskvichs, most of which were as old as (and in no better operating condition than) the Tupolev 124 on which I had arrived. What I recall most was how that sea of decaying autos parted with regularity to allow unhindered passage of shiny ZIL-117 curtained limousines carting members of the Soviet Politicheskoye Byuro on their way to elegant meals in stylish places that no common Soviet citizen was allowed to enter.

Surely the great vision of human liberation from capitalism envisioned by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels did not include limousine liberals?

Shortly after the Demo’s 2008 “October Surprise,” that politically fortuitous collapse of the U.S. securities markets which Obama rode into office, one of his condemnations of corporate execs was for “flying around the nation on private jets” while their companies were sinking into bankruptcy.

At the time, Obama had just stepped off the most expensive luxury jet in the world, Air Force One, which costs far more to operate and maintain for every minute of flight than the largest of corporate jets cost for hours, or even days, of flight. Just like his socialist mentors, Obama was oblivious to even a hint of the hypocrisy. Since then, he has logged many, many more hours on Air Force One, in transit to more luxurious vacation destinations and elite political confabs than any nouveau riche lucky lottery winner has in first class seats to Vegas – and all while our nation is sinking into bankruptcy.

For the record, every time Obama and Michelle LaVaughn, and their entourage, jet around the nation and world for political junkets and exotic vacations – they do so at enormous expense to taxpayers and Air Force resources. He condemns corporate executives for using private aircraft, while he has frivolously used one of DoD’s most expensive military assets, Air Force One ($228,288 per flight hour), with the added and much larger expense of all the backup aircraft, Air Force cargo planes airlifting limousines and support vehicles, helicopters, security and support personnel, and their political entourage, all with first class accommodations.

Of course the quick rebut is, “Bush did too,” and for the record, I have always objected to presidents of ANY party wasting tax dollars for vacations and political junkets. However, Obama has used these assets more than any president, all the while spewing his class warfare rhetoric against the one-percenters. Writing about the opulence of the Obama administration in “Presidential Perks Gone Royal,” author Robert Keith Gray notes that $1.4 billion in taxpayer funds was spent on the Obamas last year, including “the biggest staff in history at the highest wages ever” and Air Force One “running with the frequency of a scheduled air line.” Notably, all of the support costs for travel are not included in that $1.4 billion.

Obama is just the latest of the Socialist Bourgeoisie political aristocracy to occupy the White House, the archetype being Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who built on the statist foundation laid by Woodrow Wilson, and did more to undermine liberty than any president in history, with the possible exception of Abe Lincoln – until Obama. (I suspect Rahm Emanuel plagiarized Obama’s rule number one, “Never allow a crisis to go to waste,” from FDR.)

According to Marxist doctrine, manifest in Obama’s classist rhetoric, the bourgeoisie are defined as the dominant ruling-class who control the means of production in a capitalist economy and abuse the proletariat to produce their wealth.

However, what Marx didn’t have was the benefit of observing a mature free enterprise system in operation under a constitutional democratic republic from which strong and healthy middle class economies arise. So strong is the middle class in the U.S. and other industrialized nations, that modern Socialists now use the term “bourgeoisie” to pejoratively depict middle class consumerism.

What Marx unwittingly defined is the nature of Socialist government barons like Obama and his czars, where the dominant ruling class are those in political power who regulate the means of economic production through regulation and taxation in order to reduce the ranks of the middle class and thereby increase the proletariat masses, those to whom the ruling political class can discriminately transfer wealth in return for re-election … until the wealth runs out.

Unfortunately for the proletariat, this transfer of wealth is not sustainable, and the only equality achieved is impoverishment of everyone except the Socialist Bourgeoisie – trickle-up poverty.

That was precisely the result of socialism in the USSR and every other nation where politburos have centralized control over the economy leading to bankrupted nations, all the while, living themselves like the tyrant kings and potentates they ostensibly decry.

And so it is with the Obamas who, along with their Kobe beef-eating entourage, are preparing for their eighth vacation this year – this one to exclusive Martha’s Vineyard for the next 10 days. Maybe this time the family dog Bo will be able to travel on the same plane as his masters and not get stuck on a later flight with some other lesser White House lackeys, as was the case when the Obama’s vacationed in fashionable Bar Harbor, Maine, in July.

As free enterprise bends to the point of breaking under the weight of ever more oppressive taxation and regulation, and statism proceeds to bankrupt the nation, Obama and his Socialist Bourgeoisie are hobnobbing around with the rich and famous. According to his deputy press secretary, “There will be hiking, time at the beach, time at the ice cream store – all the sort of things you do when you’re at Martha’s Vineyard. You enjoy the people and the good food.” And of course, there will be golf at Mink Meadows in Vineyard Haven.

As millions of parents struggle to provide the most basic needs for their children, Barack is eating cake.

While I don’t know what October Surprise the Demos have up their collective sleeve for this fall’s election cycle, I am gravely concerned that, given Obama’s arrogant vacation schedule, it will be more devastating than the mischief they arranged in 2008. However, I remain altogether confident that American Patriots, like our forebears, will defend our Essential Liberty and persevere through whatever trials and foibles arise.