What’s in a label?

HILLARY
I was listening to talk radio this morning, and I heard a man say that if Barack Obama is elected president, and if there is a filibuster proof congress that we, as a nation, are going to take a giant step toward socialism. So my question is, what’s wrong with moving toward socialism?

JACK
The concept of socialism is just as terrifying to me, a Progressive Capitalist, as it is to those on the radical right. The fact is that I have never seen any version of communism or socialism work to the benefit of the people.

HILLARY
But isn’t that what Canada and France have? At least, Socialized Medicine? They seem pretty successful in that area.

JACK
It is difficult to point to these countries as examples of “successful” socialism. I do not immediately accept it as fact that it works to everybody’s benefit.

HILLARY
Can I tell you a story? I was in France for New Year’s 2000. I was at a small farm in the countryside where I ended up being very ill, along with one other person, from a bad meal. At around 4am I was awakened by a doctor who asked me a series of questions, and finally gave me a shot of medication, that stopped the nausea. I asked him if I owed him any money for the visit, and he said no. I told him that I was an American and he said that it didn’t matter. They treat all sick people for free. If that’s socialized medicine, sign me up.

JACK
You sound like one of the four blind men who examined an elephant from different ends and each gave a different description. The end result of your experience was satisfying- but at what price? It’s like judging a marriage using the honeymoon as the total experience. I operated a company in France for 15 years. I met French politicians, and I was brought face to face with the bureaucracy. One of the nightmares of socialism, to me, would be to have one of the bureaucrats making decisions that directly affect my life. In a historical perspective, Russia with its many five-year plans fell far short of its projections, and literally killed millions of people to prove their point. We have to examine the words and what they describe. So many people mention communism and socialism in the same breath. Although they are different, some of the major building blocks are the same. The parts that would give me nightmares would be where the government owns business and where the bureaucracies make the decisions as to what to make, what to plant, and what you pay for financing. I have yet to meet a government official in any of the socialist or capitalist countries who are capable of making these decisions. If the medical programs are really good (and I have seen evidence to the contrary) the price that is paid is extremely high. I believe that good government is one that does not make my personal decisions, but at the same time exercises some control over out of control capitalism. Witness our current problems in the finance, manufacturing, and real estate markets.

HILLARY
But the root of these problems that are running amuck in those sectors are the same roots of the healthcare debacle in this country, and it’s called greed. Some people are making far too much money, far too easily, at the expense of our weakest citizens. Perhaps what you’re suggesting is some kind of social Darwinism, where only the richest survive. Furthermore, the difference between the Soviet Union and modern day countries with socialized medicine are so many but, even on a cursory level, one is in a democratic matrix and the other is a totalitarian dictatorship. You and I have discussed at great length the enormous benefit that was done to the U.S. because of the New Deal, WPA, and the CCC. Is the hope for a medical care system similar to Canada’s so far removed from the program that you honor so much?

JACK
The hope for a good health plan does not rest on socialism or capitalism. I am in total agreement that in the USA there should be a plan that encompasses the entire population. In our society there is no room for people starving, or trying to survive without good healthcare. So many of the critics are fast to label anything that approaches compassion as socialism, and anything that includes profit making as exploitation. To understand programs and their parts we can only go to a force that has been alive for enough years to have conclusions. Social programs such as the GI Bill, the New Deal, and the Fair Deal were devised within our capitalistic society to solve that day’s problems with that day’s tools. When we talk about American capitalism we are referring to the system that has produced the highest standard of living in the history of the world, and does not only apply to those that were born with a silver flag in their mouths. At the turn of the 20th century people came from all over the world to reap the benefits of the freedom we enjoy. For poor people, (like my parents,) it was the land of opportunity. Opportunity is the operative word. Historically socialism has blunted opportunity. There are many reasons, but none of them offer simplistic equations. Health services for all does not necessarily mean socialism.

HILLARY
But if we’re paying for those health services through our taxes, then how is it not socialism? I mean our roads get paved through our taxes, right? Even though I don’t use a highway in Kentucky, I can understand why it’s my obligation to assist in paying for it, just as I want my highways here to be maintained by our government. So, if it’s a public health concern, why is there such a roadblock to community responsibility?

JACK
There are many things paid for with our taxes, that doesn’t make it socialist. Police. Fire Departments….

HILLARY
But these institutions used to be private. You would have a medallion on your house and that private fire company would come put out your fire. And, if another fire company was across the street they would let it burn, because it wasn’t their client’s house. This had to change, because it was in the greater public’s interest to have a government controlled first response mechanism. Why is it so different for medical care?

JACK
Does this make it socialism? The jury is still out as to whether hired services are superior to direct employees. I’m a great free enterpriser, but I am thoroughly irritated by the Blackwater model where privately hired soldiers get five times the pay of U.S. enlisted men. This is an example of profiteering gone wild. But we are not talking about the same thing. I object to compassion being equated with socialism, and dishonesty applied to capitalism. I strongly defend our basic concept except that I have now put a word in front of capitalism to make it “progressive capitalism”. But the course of progress from my experience is only on the road to entrepreneurship. There is nothing wrong with making a profit, but it is outrageous to gouge a population. The ideal model would be capitalism with reasonable controls.

HILLARY
So why do you fear the word “socialist”?

JACK
It’s like the old saying “there is a little bit of good in the worst in us, and a little bit of bad in the best of us.” If there are elements that are called “socialized medicine” it does not equate with “socialism is good”. Accepting socialism is frightening to me, and ok with you.

HILLARY
So socialized medicine is ok, as long as we call it Universal Healthcare?

JACK
Yes. Once again, socialized medicine suggests that it is part of a system of socialism, while Universal Healthcare is a superb concept without an onerous tag. It does not have to be the end product of a socialist state. We can have Universal Healthcare within our free enterprise system.

It seems that we agree that healthcare for all is a good thing, whether you call it “socialized medicine” or “Universal Healthcare”. Once again, we are inspired to a greater understanding by communicating from seemingly diverse perspectives.

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