Socialism: Fun for the Whole Family
by Socialism! What is it? Why should we fear it? What is there to hate about it? All the answers you were hoping wouldn’t hit you over the head like a sledge-hammer.
If my previous articles have not filled anyone with the violent urge to rip my guts out then this article may just win me the hatred I so rightly deserve as one of these outspoken political types. Today I’m not talking about anarchy but about socialism. I’m not sure I can really be called a socialist but I certainly don’t have a problem with socialism and I’m not quite sure what it is that people have against socialism. It has a bad history and some poor P.R but then what, in politics, doesn’t?
So there’s a lot of opposition to socialism from the young and old… Mostly the old, though. Despite the countries around the world that seem to function with more socialist governments there’s a lot of people who would like to see socialism eradicated entirely and the socialist countries brought to the freedom of democracy… Right.
But that’s a very general unreasonable attitude. Let’s focus on something smaller to make the point. Let’s talk about healthcare. Let’s talk about socialised healthcare! Can you picture it? Imagine going into a hospital and a doctor asks you “How can we help?” and not “Do you have insurance?”. Imagine getting into an ambulance after an accident and not wondering if this ambulance ride will be covered or if it needs to be pre-approved. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?
Of course we know that’s not true. A world with socialised medicine is a world where if you’re a doctor then the government controls everything you do and it’s a world where you might not ever get to see a doctor at all. You have to see a bureaucrat who checks if you paid your taxes. Something may have just jumped into your mind on reading that. That’s what happens with private healthcare now except a few words have been swaped. So what’s the worry? If nothing changes then why is it so bad?
Well first I think it’s important to point out what a load of crap that idea is. Secondly I need to cover my ass and say “No, socialised healthcare is not perfect but nothing is. From where I’m standing it seems like there are less flaws in this system that cares for everyone, though. So since system is perfect why not go with the better one? Doesn’t that seem logical? Or are you just that afraid of change and just that happy letting the media make up your mind for you?
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Post CommentCoal Hill Johnny
On April 2, 2009 at 9:01 pm
I liked your article because it bites a little. It makes people think. However I strongly disagree with your conclusion that socialized health care would be good. There are so many flaws with it that it would be impossible to enunciate them how. However in the USSR, a highly socialized society, the healthcare system was a mess. Healthcare like many other aspects of society became just like animal farm with the elite class of people getting decent medical care and the common fold getting very poor medical care. Read “The Cancer Ward” by Alexander Solzheneitzen or another book called Klas (can’t remember the author). However I’ll confess that I agree that health care is a mess. As for the military: It is an enumerated power identified in the U.S. constitution that congress can raise money for the military and the president is the Commander in chief. Keep writing it’s a good debate
N Marshall
On May 6, 2009 at 6:48 am
As a Canadian who reaps the benefits of a socialized healthcare system, I have to disagree a bit with CH Johnny. While there seems to be this perception that socialized medicine is a total mess, and I’ll admit it’s not without flaws, one of those flaws is not the rich being treated better than the poor. As one of the poor subset (being a student with no discernable income), from your logic would mean I get crap care. This would be really rather awful for me, because I’ve got an immune disorder, early onset arthritis and psoriasis. If socialized medicine was as horrible as people believe, i’d be wallowing in a ditch somewhere dying… and yet, I’ve been able to see specialists, doctors, go to the hospital, at regular intervals and never have to pay for this. My care was excellent, and while I accept that there will be waiting periods, I don’t care, because if our healthcare wasn’t socialized, I wouldn’t be able to get any sort of medical care at all.
In the case of medicine, more than anything else, noone should ever have to put a price tag on their health, or that of their loved ones, and thus I am proud to live in a country which has socialized their healthcare system.
Jo Oliver
On July 29, 2009 at 9:14 pm
There is so much in this article it is impossible to address all the dribble, so I will pick out the hot topic of the hour- socialized medicine.
You and the above poster obviously do not have a chronic illness, fatal disease, or disabling disease. Sure, socialized medicine is a-okay for anyone that can go into a doctors office and be given a cheap pill as the fix. It is fine and dandy for those that break their leg and need to go to the emergency room. However, for those like my daughter that have Mitochondrial disease or some other complicated disease process, it is like a certain death sentence. The ave wait in Canada just to see a specialist is 2 years, then another 2 to 4 years to get any type of invasive care needed. Most die before that time has elapsed. That is one of the main reasons that socialized medicine works. The wait is so long for those in need of expensive/long term treatment that they never get it and thus the system is flush with saved money. Another example would the cancer patients in the UK’s socialized medicine system that are told that they can not have life prolonging medications because the cost is greater than the benefit. Well, I am sure that if you were the one with cancer those extra months or years would be of value!
Meanwhile, here in America, yes, not everyone has health care. But, if you break your leg tonight, that hospital must treat you. They can not turn away any medical emergency for lack of insurance. It is the law. There are free and/or low income clinics that are there for those without insurance in the case it is not a medical emergency.Non-profit hospitals (St. Jude, Shriners, etc..) are there for those that can not pay for services. If you can not afford insurance there are CHIPS for children and Medicaid for children and adults. All of that, flawed though it may be with people abusing the system, is a far sight better than socialized medicine!
Cody
On August 20, 2010 at 6:01 pm
Socialism: The notion that the problems wrought on by government control and interference can somehow be solved with even more government control and interference.