Healthy Wisconsin offers good medicine:Those two labels have always worked for the controlling money-changers to suppress support for broad-based initiatives designed to level the playing field in health care access. People want the progress, they just don’t want to pay for it with higher taxes. And as redundant as they are, those talking points have been somewhat difficult to counter - until now.
Republican leaders and so-called business organizations are screaming “tax increase,” and “socialized medicine!”
It’s unfortunate it has taken such a disaster to wake people up to the hollow promise and consequences of ill-placed tax cuts, but the recent Minneapolis bridge collapse topping off other nationwide infrastructure failures may finally help put a rightful critical eye on politicians promising tax cuts. The burden should be on future politicians to prove tax cuts will not shortchange our nations infrastructure or further endanger our national treasury. Nothing is free in America and yes, we pay taxes.
But placing the “socialism” label on programs and publicly funded entities has worked against democrats because they allowed the right to smear its meaning. It should never have reached the point it has, and I would prefer to beat right-wingnuts over the head with socialism rather than run away from it. Now I’m not saying pure unadulterated socialism is my cup of tea, but I know our country has embraced some of the finer working points of this political doctrine. Of course Social Security first comes to mind. It is by far the most wildly successful self-sustaining initiative ever undertaken. But there has to be more….and there is.
Cenk Uygur, one of the Young Turks over at Air America offered his perspective on universal healthcare explaining that healthcare is a matter of “life and death,”and access and affordability should be molded after our police and fire departments. I’ll admit it never dawned on me that police and fire services are socialistic in the strictest terms. But they are. Anyone within their jurisdiction can call them and request immediate attention – and get it. They don’t ask you if you have a job or fire insurance before they turn the water hydrant on, and they don’t force you to fill out dozens of forms to see if you qualify for their help. Despite both departments having huge expenses including healthcare for their employees, they are affordable because they are socialist in access and universality. They have taken out the “profit” and are the best examples yet why “universal” healthcare is the future.
No one should should ever be denied police, fire or health care for any reason - period. As a nation, we should be sick from turning a profit on someone else’s misery.
2 comments:
Interesting comparison between police and fire protection and health care.
Fact of the matter is that in the early 19th century fire protection was a private, not a public, service. That's why we sometimes still refer to the Fire Department as the "Fire Company".
So you had to sign up for--and pay for--fire protection. If your house caught fire and you were paying a fire company, they would come and try to put out your fire.
If you weren't buying this protection? tough luck.
But around the middle of the century folks began to realize, possibly because of increased urban density, that it made much more sense to make fire fighting a public service. If your house caught fire and no one came to put the fire, it might spread to MY house! So began the transition of fire fighting from the private to the public sector.
Is health care much different?
David Newby, President
Wisconsin State AFL-CIO
Now that's just as interesting! People became concerned about the welfare of others only when there was a good chance they would fall victim to the same.
To your question, I'd say no. One person with a single untreated viral infection can spread their sickness to millions, starting an epidemic, taking thousands of lives and costing billions.
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