On what planet would the democratically elected President not be allowed to speak to school children out of fear that he would fill their minds and empty their hearts with poisonous propaganda? Why is Obama being called a fascist and compared to Mao and Stalin every single day? All of this mudslinging has made many Americans confused and angry, while the message of the President’s important speech on education has been lost in the controversy.

President Obama’s speech was aimed at revitalizing the perspectives of students who are just starting the school year. His intention was to give them a lightning flash of inspiration and encouragement while using his own humble background as an illustration of how success can come with hard work. He spoke about dreaming big and making a difference. He stated, “That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community.” With these words, he was not exactly pushing the kids to read Das Kapital. He was telling them what any parent would.

Yet, sadly, Americans were caught by the grip of party politics. It is no secret that when enough propaganda is shoved down people’s stomachs, it eventually starts tasting true. Parents and schools didn’t wanted children to hear the message because they thought it was a waste of school time and because it sent a bad message of indoctrination. However, the Arlington Independent School District, which did not allow Obama’s speech to be shown, is planning on bussing students off campus in a week to hear a speech on education made by former President George W. Bush. Parents and the school district have no problem with that kind of “indoctrination.” It didn’t seem to be a problem for parents and schools when his father, George H.W. Bush, gave a speech to the nation’s students in October 1991. This is a man who was criticized for not supporting the Civil Rights Act of 1964, for fighting an unjust war in Panama, for war crimes in Iraq, for giving a mass murdering terrorist named Orlando Bosch a presidential pardon, and for participating in the Iran-Contra Scandal. Yet no one had an issue with his message to the children of the United States.

When people like Rush Limbaugh call the president a fascist and compare him to Mao or Stalin, they insult him his ways that are incalculably vulgar. Mao killed 30-40 million of his own people by making them slave labor workers in a hellishly utopian society. What he called the Great Leap Forward was a jump off a bridge for society. Stalin murdered more of his own people than all the wars Russia has been in combined. During the Great Purge, he killed 40 million of his own people because he had no value of the lives of his citizens. They existed only for him to control. Yet, uninformed parents and pundits with a political purpose have the audacity to compare these monsters to President Obama.

Obama is not a socialist or fascist. He wanted to talk to America’s children because he knows they are tomorrow’s pulse. George H.W. Bush knew that, and no one hiccuped a word about fascism when he went on screen. Obama wants to provide universal health care because the United States and South Africa are the only two developed countries on the planet that don’t have it. Bill and Hillary Clinton knew that, yet no one uttered a word about their isms when the pushed with unbound vigor for universal health care in 1993. Obama cares about national well being not because he’s a socialist but because he’s an American, because he’s a humanist. And although the Maureen Dowd’s of the world have brought the idea of racism as a possible culprit in this false criticism of Obama, I don’t believe battling flame with flame is constructive. We should become informed on the issues of fascism and socialism and health care and then make up our own minds. We should read the works of Einstein, a strong and passionate believer in socialism, just so we know what we are criticising. We should not remain actively uninformed about issues or else the people with the facts will, as Orwell said, not only control the future but also the past.

Most of all, we should allow our children and students to be as informed as possible. Never can we stop them from hearing a speech from their President in fear of confusion. We need to become informed ourselves and then explain to them that there is a positive message behind all this warring hype. We must become educated on the facts and figures so we don’t sell our children into a slavery of misinformation. Obama’s speech was about educating ourselves so that we are never hostage to our ignorance. Let’s not make our children hostage to our own ignorance either. Fascism is an idea worth fearing because it is a poisonous mind control regime that does not let people read, see, think, or imagine on their own. Everything is controlled by the leadership. If we, based purely on blind fear, continue to limit our children from watching their President send a positive message about education, we will become what we most fear.