What is at the core of America's problem with nationalizing health care? Ignorance.
Essentially the American people live in a glass house of democracy where the word "socialism" can cause a fracture at any minute. Over the past few weeks the health care debate has grown in the public eye. President Obama has indicated his support for a nationalized health insurance system that ensures every American has access to health care should they need it. Critics of this policy have been quick to point out that Obama is now showing his true color, red.
The debate has gotten so heated that last night a swastika was painted on a Democrat Congressman's office sign in Georgia in protest to the Congressman's support of Obama's health care overhaul. Doesn't a swastika represent more anti-American ideas then socialism?
America may be a democracy but that has nothing to do with nationalizing businesses to benefit society. Take the Police Department, the Fire Department, the Sanitation Department; pretty much all Public Works and Public Safety organizations in the United States have been socialized to protect the people. We already have socialized business in the United States.
Some may argue that health care is different, but then what about Medicare? The United States has nationalized health care, in fact it's been around since 1965 when it was implemented by President Lyndon Johnson. Since then American's over the age of 65 and Americans with disabilities have been eligible to receive free health care sponsored by the government for the past 45 years! Has Medicare ruined the democratic structure of our country? No.
Obama's plan will just be Medicare for all, that doesn't sound so scary, does it?
A plethora of American institutions already have socialist roots, unfortunately many American's fail to realize this. It has been two decades since the fall of the Berlin wall and still a sense of the Red Scare is imminent in the United States. Instead of people realizing the good that can come from universal health care they tend to focus on a potential looming consequence that is truly a fear-mongering device of the past.
Now ask yourself, is saving peoples' lives worth it?
