Archive for the ‘social democracy’ tag
Social Democracy … no comments
What is it about the word social, when used in political conversations, and especially in conjunction with the word democracy, makes hackles, fangs, and long sharp claws appear?
In the US there has been a lot of talk both in and out of the metaverse about national healthcare, which is, let’s face it, socialized medicine by another name. When it’s called national healthcare it’s a topic for conversation. When it’s called socialized medicine, it’s a topic for scorn. God forbid we might think it a compassionate thing to take care of our neighbor, or ourselves, in time of need.
There was a really good article on alternet.org that I read yesterday – Why Does Everyone Bow Down to the Health Insurance Industry? by Barbara Ehrenreich.
Bow your heads and raise the white flags. After facing down the Third Reich, the Japanese Empire, the U.S.S.R., Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein, the United States has met an enemy it dares not confront — the American private health insurance industry. … An estimated 18,000 Americans die every year because they can’t afford or can’t qualify for health insurance. That’s the 9/11 carnage multiplied by three — every year.
She also calls the American health care insurance system what it is – extortion.
We may have fucked up a bit with the Welfare system, which would have worked better with a different set of rules. I think it is the memory of that system more than any other that scares The Suits when social medicine becomes a topic of conversation. The Suits think we are asking for a handout. But we aren’t talking about supporting a single mom who keeps having kids to get more free money from the government. We’re talking about the approximately 47 million Americans without health insurance having the ability to go to the doctor to get stitches instead of pulling a tube of Krazy Glue out of the drawer and gluing themselves back together. We’re talking about being able to go to the dentist instead of walking around with festering holes in our heads. And oh yes, I might be able to get an appointment six months from now to go to the free clinic to get that check up for cervical cancer I am supposed to have every six months, but if the test comes back positive, well, it’s time to get the will in order, such as it will be.
We’re talking about caring for our people. Every single one, on an equal basis.
It’s the first step to becoming an enlightened society.