Last night when asked whether Obama’s policies were socialist, Former President George W. Bush (R-etired) replied, “We’ll see.” Interestingly, this sentiment echos the mantra from the right, that Obama is steering us into becoming the USA(SR). According to many a pundit, the U.S. is headed from a pure capitalist society to a socialist-style commune complete with photos of Stalin. In fact, they’ve ramped up the rhetoric to such a level lately that any day I’m expecting to see Lenin (V.I., not John) bust out of his tomb and catch a flight to D.C.
Unfortunately, I think people have conveniently forgotten a few steps that we’ve already taken on the thousand mile journey. (To be clear, I’m not advocating for socialism, communism, or any change from our representative democracy, but geez people–look at the facts). In fact, some of the longest-lived government programs could(SHOCKINGLY!!) fairly fall under the label of “socialist.” So, before we hit Defcon 2 over at Fox news, let’s take a look at whether the U.S. is really being fooled by a secret commie.
1) Medicare. Let’s try an activity. First, find someone over 65. Ok? Now ask them how much they pay for their own health care. Chances are, the answer is going to be a lot less than you. Why is this? Because we pay part of our earnings each week to make sure that Edith can get that rash looked at and that Alfred’s yearly prostate screening only hurts his pride, not his wallet. Yep, this system of taking wealth from people with the means to pay (you and me) and distributing it to those who don’t (the retired and elderly) sure doesn’t sound like pure capitalism to me, comrade. But, anyone over 65 (who vote in record numbers) want to drop this safety net and cover their own costs? Didn’t think so.
2) Welfare. Yeah, we’ve all got opinions about it. There are users and abusers of the system, but if you need it, you’ll be glad that we have it. This is another government-sanctioned wealth redistribution that literally throws a financial lifeline to some of our down-and-outest citizens. Love it or hate it, no civilized society should leave the poorest of the poor to fend for themselves.
3) Social Security. They didn’t even try to hide the ball on this one. In the late 1930s, the government created a federally funded retirement plan for all of us that we’re all paying for. Did they try to disguise it by calling it “Mildred’s Federal Bingo Stipend” or “Sexagenarian Slush Funds?” Nope, they put “Social” right in the title. And ever since then, people have been pretty happy knowing that when they reach the magic age that they would get something to help them cover their monthly prune juice and Early Bird Special needs.
What’s my point with all this? That we’ve had plenty of social(ist) programs in effect for a long time. Just because the government is trying to take to figure out new ways to cope with our social problems doesn’t mean that we’re about to be callin’ Stalin.
Tags: Das Vadanya Keynes?, Putin off the Ritz, Social(ist) studies
June 28, 2009 at 11:57 pm |
All 3 are failed, bankrupt and highly corrupted socialist systems. So the idea of instituting more of the same is supposed to be comforting? “Sure it’s more socialism, but these examples of failure are proof we’ve screwed it up before, so don’t worry!” Hah, no thanks.
Also, did you ever think that if we just allowed people to keep more of their own money, they’d be more willing to give it in charitable ways? It tends to happen when taxes drop significantly.