As the Presidential elections approach I think the temptation will be too great for Republicans to go after the latest low hanging political fruit…………….i.e. Socialism and
some thoughts that I had as I pondered on why it is that our health system is so screwed up.
The worship of the all mighty dollar has been so ingrained into our mentality and social fabric that most of us have a very unpleasant reaction when someone suggests that we should use our national resources ( that is OUR taxes ) to create a medical system that does not carry a huge financial penalty when you have to face significant health issues. I’ve heard it from friends and family when the topic is brought up in casual conversation comments such as, “ we can’t afford that socialist crap” “I sure as hell am not going to pay out a chunk of my paycheck so some stranger, who is probably on welfare and food stamps, just so they can get free healthcare.”
We’ve been brainwashed into believing that the entire concept of why we pay taxes is so that we can support an entire segment of population comprised of politicians, the CEOs of massive corporations, and billionaires and allow them live the kind of lifestyle that they deserve owing to their exalted position in our society. The tragic irony is that we waste, by a huge margin, more than enough to pay for health care, child care, care for our elderly, and things like maintaining our infrastructure and our environment. If we could just end the pervasive fraud and stop wasting such a large portion of our tax dollars through extremely poor management many of these programs would be well funded.
We literally just hand out our tax dollars to contractors, to businesses, to foreign countries without there ever being any expectation of any kind of a return on those funds. Defense contracts, a huge source of government waste are rarely if ever audited, incentives to certain types of businesses like gas and oil production are handed over in the hope that companies will use those funds to locate new reserves and thereby lower the cost of these products to consumers, but those costs are dictated by larger far more powerful international influences. We provide aid to nations across the globe to curry favor and in an effort to influence their behavior and policies. Often this money just goes straight into the pockets of those nations leaders and to uses that often cause harm and end up leading to further financial burden for the U.S.
Those are just a small portion of the ways we waste money and sadly there are dozens, and when these funds are lost our politicians then have what they see as a valid excuse why it is we can’t afford those programs that actually will help the citizens of our nation insignificant ways. It also gives them an excuse to scream bloody murder about so called socialists trying to take over our country and do all the horrible things they can claim that socialism has done (some of which is quite true) and generate false alternative realities as they try to demonize the socialism that we all rely on daily and without which our country would not function. Such as our roads, public utilities, electrical grids, and fire and police departments. Even though framing the argument in terms of “democratic socialism” is specifically about our tax dollars and how we spend them. Not about controlling our entire nation and everything being owned by the state, but refining and making the process of spending that money a more intelligent decision and finding ways of spending those tax funds so that far more Americans can actually benefit from their use. Most importantly cutting out the waste and abuse that plagues our nation. Simply put social ( for all of us ) as opposed to private ( for certain corporations and select parties to use as they please).
We have shaped and controlled our development as a nation by maintaining certain myths as they pertain to capitalism. It does work well for the more affluent portion of a society, especially those that actually control it. During healthy market conditions they are able to reap massive profits. That has led to a tendency for those individuals to constantly try to convince the entire population of our nation that capitalism is the only type of financial system that will work in a free and democratic society. But the vast number of poor and lower middle class individuals in this nation is a very strong indicator that there is no guarantee of equity no matter how hard or long a person works. Even the average citizens ability to gain any significant benefit from what they contribute in the form of taxes is questionable, yes they do benefit from those things that we all share like infrastructure. The things that conservatives refuse to admit are a small aspect of how a democratic socialist government functions. Unfortunately there are way to many examples all across the globe that show clearly that our frequent claims regarding capitalism is no more than a constant attempt to maintain the status quo and prop up a system that will continue to generate massive profits for a small very privileged portion of a nation that has spent centuries trying to brainwash the general populace into buying the absurd claim that there is no other way that will work and because of that we have no other choice.
“America First” is a highly charged political label, but one thing we must be aware of is that it also casts a bad light on anything that isn’t American and thereby condemning the way in which other nations have seen fit to address problems that are similar or in many instances the same as ones that we face. No matter if the solutions were spot on and achieved excellent results, just because many of our politicians view the world through this distorted nationalistic lens, if it happened in a foreign country it will be rejected as inferior and somehow as having no value. A position that puts us a very unfortunate position as we scramble for intelligent solutions to our home grown problems.