Healthcare Reform and Socialism,
an Historical Perspective

This is an attempt to belay some of the concerns being raised by conservatives regarding the public option of healthcare reform.
    A lot of people once feared that Social Security, Medicare and safety net programs would result in socialism as well. A close inspection of history shows the opposite. These programs actually protected capitalism from the threat of communism. At the time, our government was concerned that the discontent of less advantaged people might result in a communist revolution, as Karl Marx predicted. By adding public safeguards, capitalism thrived and more people benefitted from it.
    In Europe, such public concessions leaned toward socialism far more than the United States did. England nationalized a number of large industries, including healthcare, and the results were mixed. As one might expect, people were helped at the same time that their economy took a downturn. Margaret Thatcher came to the rescue by de-nationalizing most of these industries, and the economy turned around. They retain government run pensions and healthcare, however. English conservatives always supported nationalized healthcare, even when it was first proposed.
    While Scandinavians embraced a more strict version of socialism, Germany retained a strong capitalistic economy. Yet both provide universal healthcare. Their citizens consider themselves free and not in any way government oppressed.
    What I am trying to show is that nations do not slide into socialism because they compassionately and patriotically care about the well-being of their fellow citizens.
    Russia, China and Cuba became violent, restrictive, communist states because of totalitarian dictators. Not healthcare. Western democracies cannot be compared with those totalitarian regimes. It is insulting to everything we stand for that opponents to healthcare reform compare us to these non-democratic states.
    The fear-mongering we hear today shows little respect for the American people. Socialism is not going to suddenly consume us, because of who we are and the values we hold. Socialism is simply not part of our psychological make-up.
    During the French revolution, English conservatives panicked, thinking that their own people would rise in revolt. It never happened. Why? Because of who they were as a people. Similarly, the American Revolution produced quite different results than its French counterpart. It reflected American ideals.
    The Red Scare in this country caused similar panic — all for nothing. No matter how many spies infiltrated our government, the American people would never succumb or be attracted to communism. It is not part of our cultural DNA.
    What is supposed to be part of our cultural DNA, however, as our founders envisioned things, is honesty, compassion, and the kind of intelligence that free thought encourages. We are not seeing this today, especially in regards to something as relevant as healthcare.
    It is time to put aside ideological rhetoric so that intelligent discourse can begin. The public option will no more lead to socialism than Social Security and Medicare did. Furthermore, it will protect capitalism as we know it by safeguarding people from some of its less benign characteristics.

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