I watched an interview with an Alabama Congressman this week in which he promised to oppose any effort by the Obama Administration to create a "socialist health care system" in America. The interviewer let the Congressman say it without challenge, and as usual I was practically jumping into the screen. "Socialist?" I wanted to ask, "does that mean you want to eliminate Medicaid and Medicare?"
The New York Times had an interesting story by an ex-pat living in Amsterdam and his views on health care there and back home. I recommend you read the entire piece, but if you don't have the time or patience to get through all five pages, please make sure you at least read starting on page 2 with the line "IF “SOCIALISM” IS THEN something of a straw man..."
My longtime friend David, wiser than I for sure, pointed out the article to me in the first place. And he wrote this too:
Must we label and categorize everything into unchangeable isms? Instead, could we imagine what we need for all of us to get through the days and then work to provide it? If you have to have a name for it, call it pragma, dispensing with the ism for awhile. The name and its meaning will change as needed. Always be ready to change and adjust. And do we have to let things get so bad that revolution is the only way to extricate ourselves and move forward? Instead, could we consciously decide to go with the evolutionary flow? Nothing in the universe stands still, nothing. It is all always moving, evolving. If humans are part of the universe, shouldn’t they also be always (all ways) evolving, physically and spiritually? The universe is a giant, dependable example. We can take that example any time we decide to. My guess is that it will always be there until every one of us comes aboard.
I can already imagine the comments, the critiques, the namecalling. But certainly the idea of working to provide what we all need is appealing, no?
If you'd like some more info, I think that this article also puts things into place; http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/showlink.aspx?bookmarkid=TN5AP1EE7S78&preview=article&linkid=4e1005f8-c802-413a-b3db-ec34d9a5c99d&pdaffid=ZVFwBG5jk4Kvl9OaBJc5%2bg%3d%3d
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
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Of course, the same "incompetent" government that gives us our military, also gives our military health care.
ReplyDeleteThey must be socialist too.
All this "socialism" talk is pure nonsense, and I think your assessment is spot on.
It's a straw man.
NPR did a pretty good job in a story last week of getting across the obvious point that we ALREADY ration health care in the United States, we just do it in a way that benefits the fewest number of people while costing everybody else a lot more than it needs to.
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