In an earlier post I said I’d talk more about the health care reform itself. So let’s do that.

Starting with the bill, now a useless mess of compromises and concessions which look like they will change very little and help even less. At most it will put the problem off a little longer, providing a temporary fix rather than a lasting solution.

Why?

I can think of quite a few reasons that would turn this entry into an incredibly long essay if I tried to try to cover them all. So I’ll stick with the one I think is the biggest problem, and which relates to some things I talked about in my last entry. It’s the word Socialism. I despise the way that word is thrown around like a curse, marking any idea or person it touches as a pariah. And it’s simply because people don’t understand the idea. I wouldn’t call myself a socialist, but I can easily see the merits of the system. And I think I’d take it over the ridiculous oligarchy we’re living under now. And if you don’t agree that that’s the system we have, you’re kidding yourself. We proudly proclaim to the world our democracy, but we don’t all have equal votes. The people with the money control who they donate it to come election time. And they don’t give it freely. Election costs favors. Favors are cashed in when it comes time to vote on bills. The will of the people takes a back seat to the will of the dollar. What I want doesn’t mean nearly as much as what the person running an insurance company (for example) with millions of dollars to pay lobbyists and back campaigns wants. Calling that democracy is either ignorance or denial.

But what’s so wrong with Socialism anyway?

The way the idea is demonized, one would think it antithetical to human existence. To me, it seems nothing could be further from the truth. Advocating the fair and equal treatment of all hardly seems like an idea worth fighting against. State control seems to be the idea most reviled by people who oppose Socialism. It’s also the thing that would seem to run completely counter to my political ideas and make my defense of the system appear to be a bit perplexing. But Socialism, like most political philosophies, has many branches and theories that are all put under one umbrella label. State control and Socialism don’t necessarily come as a package deal. Public control does not mean state control. The amount of centralization of control is one of the differing opinions amongst those that consider themselves socialists. And decentralized public control seems to be much more in line with my own beliefs.

So perhaps it’s time for some politicians to grow a spine, forget their fear of a misunderstood word and the label it might bring to them, and just do what’s best for people. Both parties are guilty here, from those who misrepresent the health care reform and the idea of Socialism, to those who refuse to defend a good idea regardless of the label being put on it.

With the “public option” seemingly making a comeback, I have at least a small hope that some good may come of this whole mess, but I am being cautious in my optimism because I know it is still a struggling idea with a lot of opposition to overcome before it becomes viable. Maybe a little Socialism would do the world a lot of good. The problem is, I just really don’t see it gaining any real support until those who grew up during the height of the Cold War undergo an immense shift in perception. But I’m worried that the relationship between Soviet Communism and the word Socialism was so deeply ingrained in them and known as the great evil of the day that nothing will be able to convince them of its merits. I guess if nothing else we can just wait for them to die off and hope their prejudices haven’t been passed on to too many people. But I’d like for that to not be the case. Especially because that might take quite some time.

Maybe if people would just try to take time to understand things a little better we wouldn’t end up in situations where good ideas are labeled as something just because that thing is misunderstood and, therefore, feared. This outdated system of Capitalism is clearly flawed at best. It’s time to look at other options, or at the very least adopting portions of other systems. Think about it.

~George