Socialized medicine is not a new concept of the 21st century, as this audio clip from 1961 will show. There are no problems that exist in our health care or the health care delivery system that can not be solved in the private sector.
From the 1961 Operation Coffee Cup Campaign seeking to counter a proposed Democratic plan for socialized medicine, then private citizen and actor Ronald Reagan speaks out against socialized medicine.
Everywhere socialized medicine has been tried, it has accomplished government control over a population, under the presumption that the government making life choices for you, rather than yourself, is a freedom to be surrendered. That, and it has failed to live up to the promises of better and more affordable care.
As Americans, our Constitution and Bill of Rights define limits on the federal government in controlling the people. This is what President Obama refers to as ‘negative rights.’ These documents are what separates the United States from every other country on earth. That freedom, personal liberty, and a free-enterprise capitalistic system are the reasons we have become the greatest country in the world by any measure in less than 200 years.
In 1961, Ronald Reagan said this . . .
Now back in 1927 an American socialist, Norman Thomas, six times candidate for president on the Socialist Party ticket, said the American people would never vote for socialism. But he said under the name of liberalism the American people will adopt every fragment of the socialist program. One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. Most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can’t afford it.
Ronald Reagan’s quoting of Socialist Norman Thomas (grandfather of Newsweek reporter Evan Thomas) was as right on point nearly 50 years ago as it is today.
Sure, there are poor people in America. But compared to poor people in socialized countries, America’s poor are wealthy. America’s poor drive cars, have TV’s, indoor plumbing, electricity, and cell phones. They have free health care when needed most, not to be confused with a health insurance policy, free education, a free breakfast and a free lunch. They have free day care, after-school care, and food and housing assistance. And it is capitalism and hard working, caring Americans that pay for it all. Not socialism.
But, more importantly, and only in America, the poor have what the others do not. They have the opportunity to advance themselves based on their own application of their own God-given talents where there is no limit except those that they place upon themselves, or that the government places upon them. President Obama is a living testament to that fact.
The lessons to learn from history is that wealth and prosperity are not derived from government, but are derived from personal freedom and liberty of the people, two concepts that are antithetical to today’s batch of politicians in Washington. Democrats have learned long ago that keeping people dependent on government, rather than championing the individual and by getting out of their way, insures political power. And political power, rather than individual achievement, is their goal. Using people in this way may make political sense if political power is all you’re after. But it is also immoral. The other lesson to learn is that Democrats have not given up on the big government concept. Which reminds me of another Reagan quote. Government isn’t the answer to our problem. Government (too much of it) is the problem.
