Sarah Palin urged Republicans Monday to hold firm to their principles of opposing tax increases and reining in a "burdensome" government, as she warned that if left unchecked President Barack Obama's policies would set the country on a path to communism.

"I say Republicans, go back to what the planks in your platform represent. It represents reining in government, putting back the power and the responsibility in the individual, not in the state, not in government again that gets us towards socialism," the former Alaska governor said on Fox News' Sean Hannity show Monday night.

"What goes beyond socialism . . . is communism," she continued, noting that she would likely "get slammed for speaking so bluntly" about Obama's proposal for tax rate increases on the wealthy and an increase in the debt ceiling.

"Just, you know, read history. See how these mighty empires have fallen because of government being so burdensome on the people and taking away opportunity and freedom," she added.

Palin, a Fox News contributor who in 2008 was the Republican vice presidential nominee, once again referred to Obama as "a socialist," saying he believes in the redistribution of wealth and making it harder for businesses to expand and grow.

"I say that not to personally condemn our president, but . . . because I face reality, and I see what's going, and I see the path that we are on," she said, adding that Obama spends other people's money "recklessly" without any apparent worries.

"That is a sign of that idea of loving socialism," she told Hannity.

Palin also weighed in on Obama's budget proposal offered last week by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, which called for $1.6 trillion in new taxes on the wealthy, coupled with spending cuts, but also $50 billion in new stimulus money and lifting the debt ceiling limit.

Palin called it "a very scary proposal" that would essentially give the president "free rein" to spend at "whatever level he wants."

Palin, who recently referred to some Republicans as "wusses" for not sticking with their anti-tax pledges, apologized for calling them names "because that distracts from the point that has to be made" in responding to Obama's proposal.

"The point is that we are a bankrupt country. Sixteen trillion dollars in debt, and with [entitlements], we're really . . . 60, 70, 80 trillion dollars in debt," she said, adding:

"There isn't enough money in the world to pay back the future generations that we've stolen from and foreign countries that we have borrowed from."