In its most fundamental,
phrasebook form, socialism is social
class transformation in society, is done by getting rid of the private sector and all
means of production and distribution of goods are owned and controlled
collectively or by the government. The government in turn, is run by the people
(so therefore owned by the people.) Yet it is difficult to imagine that
socialism would ever be accepted as a mainstream idea in the U.S. in the
foreseeable future. In many ways it’s too idealistic to be realistically used
as an actually governmental structure as large as the US. But, why do we as
Americans get so nervous when we discuss socialism? Why do we have such a
negative outlook on a political ideal that in many way seems to outline the
very foundation that the US was based on?
The preamble of the United States Constitution
reads, "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more
perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the
common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of
liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America."
Lets take the issue of
universal healthcare, for example. The founding fathers found the issue of
welfare important, for they added into our constitution, the document that
outlines the fundamentals of our government. However, what many Americans were
unwilling to increase taxes for government to cover the expenses, and to make
universal health care a reality. It is unreasonable to say that universal health
care could not be provided by our government for any other reason than the
political culture in the United States, luckily, that is changing. Most of
Europe has universal healthcare, and while European countries are much smaller,
the United States is by far the wealthiest country in the World.
http://www.aneki.com/richest.html
The United states and
European states invest their money differently though. Europe is more oriented
towards internal welfare state structure than external involvement. European
countries do not spend nearly as much as much on defense as the U.S. does.
In fact it spends about 17 times more than the most populated country in the
world, china; 9 times more than the UK, 11 times more than France and about 16
times more than Germany.
http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/world-top-ten-countries-with-largest-defence-budget-map.html
For Europeans, it is
more important that a citizen to be able to enter a hospital and get service
they can afford, for all students to attend college at a more sensible rate
(maximum tuition at one of the most prestigious universities in France,
Sciences Po is 9500 euros) and other perks of government welfare. If the
United States changed their view on socialism, and on government welfare, Universal
healthcare would not be such a debate.
This post brings up an interesting argument. While I don't think socialism is right for our country, it seems to have been labeled a "bad word" by society. Opponents of President Obama often accuse him of being a socialist, as if it contains an evil connotation. While capitalism is the best system for America, including some of the positive aspects of socialism, including Universal Health Care, would be a benefit. We currently face a major health issue in this country that Universal health care would solve. Hospitals cannot turn down a patient in dire need, regardless of their health care status. As a result, hospital bills are high and uninsured people are reluctant to seek help in getting over an illness for fear of high debt. While socialism isn't the answer, it should not be viewed as a dirty word.
ReplyDeleteI think that the United States is entirely too big to have a system run like universal healthcare. Not only do people not want to have to pay for something that many people don't even think they'll use, but since the practices will no longer be private, the doctors won't have much incentive to make money because everyone will essentially be at the same level. There will be no incentive to specify in a particular practice. Also, the healthcare wouldn't be as good of quality as it is now, because so many people would be going in for such minor things (knowing they're covered essentially under someone else's expense that they're paying a small portion of) just to make sure they're not getting a minor cold, etc. On another note, we do have the highest GDP but we also have a huge debt. I can't imagine that having universal healthcare would help that debt significantly. We essentially have the most power in the world and giving into a system like this would just make us look like the other countries who have turned to socialism or even communism. The more power we give the government, the more greedy they will get and the more power they will think they can take.
ReplyDeleteHi, Lucy, this is also a topic that I have thought long and hard about. I'm currently enrolled in a British history class, and I saw how the transition to a more socialist society went. In the beginning of the 20th century, the poverty level was so astounding that the people who formed unions began to hold a significant political power. Thus was the creation of the Labor Party, which made a coalition with the Liberal Party. Basically, to sum up this long and complicated story, the Liberals passed a bill through to the House of Lords about the budget (the budget meant to tax the upper class more to fund the marine sector of the British government, mainly for the building of submarines in preparation of WWI), which the House of Lords rejected. This was against the rules; the House of Lords could reject any bills other than budget bills, so the House of Commons had to choose their punishment, which ended up being a reduction of power. With the power of the Liberals and Labor Party, socialist reforms were passed. Then, once the war began, even more reforms were passed in order to keep morale on the home front up so that people didn't all think they were in poverty; once the war ended, these reforms stayed in place. It's much more complicated than this, but that's basically what happened. In order for us to put these types of reforms into effect, we would have to be in a dire situation, which is sad because it's worked out well for Britain.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, part of the reason is that the wealth gap in the United States is much greater than in other countries, therefore, it is more difficult for the establishment of the Universal healthcare. What I mean by that is healthcare is funded by the taxes that the citizens pay. That means that the upper class will have to carry the burdens of the cost. That is radically different from what we were raised in.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the comments above. The United States is too big for this kind of system to work efficiently. On the other hand, I do think that we are spending a little too much on our defense. Hopefully we don't have to spend as much in the future (as in no wars).
I am fortunate enough to have a great insurance plan. However, with my parents who lived in South Korea, this system first was ridiculous to them as the medical bills were so much higher (not the operations but the regular visits) than in Korea. South Korea, from what I know, is very socialistic and has a high tax rate (I am not sure how high though).
Although I favor universal healthcare, I don't expect the United States to pull through with this system. I don't think it will work with the values that are so deeply rooted in ourselves.
Moreover, higher taxes are frowned upon in the United States. The connotation of "tax" is associated with negative terms.
We will never be willing to pay higher taxes for universal healthcare. Although Democrats are considered to be more towards "big government" that still does not tolerate higher taxes.
I don't think it is necessarily that we think we are so engrossed in anti-socialism to be against it. I think we enjoyed (the affluent class) our lifestyle of having lower taxes to change our perspectives of taxes. It is too embedded in our brains to change it otherwise.
Hmm...I'm not really too sure if socialism is what's best for our society. Our whole culture is based purely around capitalism. Moreover, I think the health care system for our country is good as it's going to get because of our culture. Competition could be gone to an extent because fundamentally all doctors would be on the same level. People could walk in for anything, scratches, even little cuts from razors at the barbershop. That doesn't make for good health care if you could walk into the hospital for anything as minor as that. While our healthcare system could possibly use some revision, something tells me it's almost as good as it's gonna get.
ReplyDelete