First diary so go easy. :)
I was sniffing around the Google for historical evidence of our Founding Fathers being big commie socialists (by Glenn Back's standards that could be a federal baseball team). I knew that Benjamin Franklin started the first socialized fire department. So I was looking for more examples of stuff like that.
That's when I came across this amazing little historical nugget as posted by Paul J. O'Rourke over at Open Salon.
He explains that back in the 1790s, it was believed that the health and well being of merchant sailors was considered in the national interest: "We relied on the private merchant ships of America, as well as other nations, to build our economy and fund our treasury." This concern led to the creation of the first national health insurance system:
It was in the context of this reality that, in July of 1798, Congress passed, and President John Adams signed into law an act "For the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen," establishing the Marine Hospital Service.
This Federal government socialized healthcare insurance was funded by a tax that was withheld from the sailor’s pay, and then turned over to the government by the ship’s owner. This first payroll tax amounted to slightly over 1% of the sailor’s wages. An injured or sick sailor would make a claim, his record of payments would be confirmed, and he would be given a "chit" for admission to the local hospital. Some of these healthcare facilities were private, but in the larger ports Federal maritime hospitals were established.
The history continues on from there, and I include links below for further study, but the relevant lesson has been learned. Yes, Americans, our Founders were very much for a socialized healthcare insurance system, and weren't against having government hospitals.
You rarely see something smash a bullsh@t meme as quickly and easily as this does. But it goes deeper. The Founders understood that the government can and should be used to address the needs of society as a whole. Benjamin Franklin's fire department is just another out of many examples of our Founders being big pinko socialists.