CE Week #1: “The Red, White and Blue is actually Red” Sept. 7th
Derrick Skaug (former MSHS AP GO PO Student)
The Daily Evergreen
Published: 08/31/2009 6:49pm
Being called a liberal used to be an insult, but after eight years of former President George W. Bush, being a liberal is not only acceptable, it is preferable. Now that conservatives have realized tarring someone as a liberal is not an effective election strategy, dirtier words are being slung.
President Barack Obama’s economic policies are being labeled as socialism, communism and even fascism. I will not speak for the legitimacy of communism or fascism because both systems are, at best, ineffective and, at worst, dangerous. Socialism, on the other hand, should not be considered an insult or something to be feared because we are all socialists.
It’s true. No matter what Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity or Glenn Beck say, the U.S. has been a socialist state for a very long time. Not one country on earth operates under a true laissez-faire economy.
Every single student at WSU is supporting a socialist program – public schools. A socialist education system still offers choice unlike communist systems. Parents can pay to have their children attend a private school, or they can send their kids to a taxpayer-supported public school.
The shipping and mail industry is the same way. When I buy products off of Ebay or Amazon, some of my products are delivered by FedEx. On the other hand, the U.S. Postal Service, which is an independent government agency, which provides jobs for Americans, delivers the rest of my mail.
The U.S Constitution actually gives Congress the right to set up post offices. Apparently, that dreaded socialism even managed to taint our sacred constitution.
Another government-funded segment of society interfering with the free market nature of raging wildfires is the fire department. A scene in Martin Scorsese’s film “Gangs of New York” depicted two private firefighting companies grappling over who would get to put out a raging inferno that was destroying an entire city block. This was not drawn out of thin air. A vast multitude of private fire companies did exist. Thankfully, very few still do. A true, free market supporter should find the closest private firefighting company and put that number on speed dial.
It’s ironic that the only socialist program that conservatives like to support is the military, which tends to have a monopoly on national defense. Most Americans seem to prefer the military rather than their private sector counterpart, Blackwater. And there seems to be no private sector competitors to the police, except maybe bodyguards.
The question boils down to how conservatives can support so many socialist programs, including the bailouts of entire industries, but not a public health care option.
Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP are all popular socialist health care programs that conservatives would never tamper with. Yet these programs let many Americans fall through the cracks – those with preexisting conditions, the lower-middle class and many others. Most Americans just want to be able to make their own choice between a public or a private option when it comes health care.
Supporters of a public option are socialists, but then again, aren’t we all?
A. After reading this article, I have a new perspective on the socialist issue at hand. I never really thought of getting financial aid for college as being called ‘socialism’ before. Maybe issues like this slide through the cracks because it becomes the normal and socially accepted.
B. I do see how one could just claim that since the U.S follows some socialistic ideas that we are all okay with socialism whether we know it or not but, as always there are different levels of socialism. Over time the U.S has become more reliant on the government. Government started aiding people during the depression and ever since, we have been relying more and more on what our government can do for us. I personally have no opinion on the Medicare/Medicaid issue because I do not know enough yet, but do we really want complete socialism? We have seen it fail miserably in the past and we have always had a fire in our belly, as Americans, to be independent from our government. What happened to that fire? Maybe saying approving Medicare makes us complete socialists is a little extreme but that’s one step closer. At what point do we say it’s too much?
C. I want to know more about the Medicare/Medicaid issue. I am currently researching it so I can comprehend more blogs but it’s a big issue.