Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Is "socialist" the most feared word in America?

  Damn socialists!

I recently clicked on one of those silly quizzes that asked, "Are you more American or European?"  One of my Facebook friends, who is German by birth, felt the gist of it was that Americans are freedom loving, hard working, go-it-alone individualists, and Europeans aren't.  That Europeans are all just a bunch of *gag...puke...choke* SOCIALISTSEwwwwww!

Truth is, Americans have benefited from many programs some would call "socialist", like SOCIAL Security and Medicare.  I'll concede, some Americans probably don't like Social Security or Medicare, as they will never in a million years ever need to rely on either.  They can just cut a check for whatever they want.

But what about public schools?  Isn't that a social program, paid for by all, for the benefit of all?  How about interstate highways, paid for by all, for the benefit of all?  

How about fire departments?  Modern professional fire departments are a fairly recent development.  Battling fires used to be something neighbors did for each other on a volunteer basis, with abysmal results.  Now we have highly professional, highly effective municipal fire departments, paid for by all, for the benefit of all.  Ditto for law enforcement....paid for by all, for the benefit of all.

When I was in school, way back in the last century, we were taught in civics class that government existed to do for people what they couldn't do for themselves.  At the time of the writing of our Constitution that meant things like maintaining a postal system and maintaining a strong military, paid for by all, for the benefit of all.  It was a pretty simple time.

Now, in this century, it seems reasonable to empower a Securities and Exchange Commission to look out for us, as "financial services" are much too sophisticated for the average person to comprehend, which leads to many of us getting ripped off.  We need an SEC to protect us, paid for by all, for the benefit of all.

How about a Food and Drug Administration, paid for by all, for the benefit of all?  Would you know how to tell if a drug is effective and safe, or just worthless snake oil, or worse? 

We're now on the cusp of comprehensive health care falling into the category of things we probably can't do on our own.  If a national health plan similar to that practiced in the UK is too radical for us, maybe we could look elsewhere, such as in my friend's native Germany, for a health care system that works, that is insurance based, and is universal.  But to just whack what we have now, without a better replacement, just to please those who will never have to worry about paying for anything, is just wrong! 

My point is, benefiting from some social programs does not make us socialists, and is something to be embraced, not feared.  We've had them for years, whether we've realized it or not, and they've served us well.

S


7 comments:

  1. As I used to say when someone in my class asked a 'stupid' question...."sometimes the obvious is not apparent enough...."

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  2. It is, after all, WE the people.

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  3. Dumb people confuse socialism with communism, which is why it's such a dirty word.

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  4. All forms of government are problematic if taken to extremes. Democracy would be a hideous curse if unregulated, so it's been tempered with socialism, like the examples you mention. Another are our wonderful National Parks, set aside for the benefit of the people. I don't think socialism is a dirty word even though most Americans don't know the difference between socialism and communism.

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  5. I am all in favor of a better healthcare system, whatever that may be...if only smart people could be in charge of figuring it out, instead of politicians who are mostly concerned with their next election.

    Unlike some elitist intellectual twits, I think most Americans know the difference between social programs and communism, even some "dumb" people, .

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  6. Socialism, in the form of Social Security and Medicare and the like . . . I like.

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  7. I'm finally catching up with commenting on blogs I follow. As always, you are the voice of reason. Are you sure you don't want to run for President? No? How about running for Chief of All Lobbyism? :-p

    I like to think of socialism as "people taking care of each other" and communism as "government forcing its way onto people." As you noted - a huge difference. And, of course, I realize that's a very simplified view. In reality, I know it's a bit more complicated.

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