The more things change ... the more they make one want to run off screaming into the mountains and never return. And they stay the same. But, worse maybe - worse because of all the ignored history and experience.
We’re told that socialism is coming to America. (It’s been lurking here to some time but whatever). For example, they’re pushing Bernie-Care. It’s not just the junior senator from Vermont with the whacky hair and the whackier ideas. Elizabeth Warren, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, [__Insert Democrat Name Here__] - they’re all abuzz about socialized medicine. This is to be something beyond the [Un]Affordable [No]Care Act; it’s intended as true Soviet Semashka British NHS-style, single-payer, socialized, communized “care.” Said care would likely consist of living in a box, paying exorbitant taxes, while some administrative flunky tells you that your emergency surgery has been postponed again and your doctor has defected to Mexico. But, anyway...
Like it or not, Rich Lowry says it’s coming:
Popularized by the socialist Bernie Sanders, Medicare for All is not just a fringy left-wing talking point anymore. It’s a fringy plank of a growing element of the Democratic Party. A raft of prospective Democratic presidential candidates have endorsed the policy, while about a third of Democratic members of the House have joined a caucus devoted to it.
Lowry’s only error is that he says there’s a debate and that he feigns surprise as if this is something new. It’s not new and there will be no debate. Full control of life and death health decisions by the government has been part of the leftist plan for decades.
But now, we’re led to believe, it’s not just the left-wing touting the total control. In 2018, even libertarians support Bernie-Care!
The US could insure 30 million more Americans and virtually eliminate out-of-pocket health care expenses while saving $2 trillion in the process, according to a new report about Medicare for All released by the libertarian Mercatus Center.
This leaves much to the imagination (and active one, at that). The Mercatus study was backed by the Brothers Koch, heretofore labeled “Alt-right, conservative, billionaire elitists” or something. But now! Now that the study fits the agenda, they’re libertarians. Well, okay, Trump says they’re globalists, which is probably closer to the mark - but let’s not interrupt the happy narrative.
Some few, this author included, have noted that replacing the existing US statist-corporatocracy health “system” with something akin to what they have in the UK, Switzerland, or New Zealand would probably deliver somewhat comparable results while costing approximately the same or perhaps even a little less - FOR NOW! Give it a year or three (or a month or less) and I guarantee costs would begin to rise at about double the rate that the quality declines, both movements being assured.
There are so many variables at work here that my maximum word limit doesn’t allow for even outlining most of them. To be succinct: socialism does not work, not anywhere, especially not in America. And they’ve tried it here with predictable results. These types literally cannot make the trains run on time, even when the time is dictated by the laws passed by the socialists themselves before building the tracks.
But continue to try they will. With the trains. With the media and the internet. With Medicare for all. With college for all. I say this is headed towards Venezuela for all, although that might be a rosy assessment. In Caracas, they can at least still afford drone bombs for attempted assassinations. We might not be so fortunate.
Thank God Almighty we have the Republican Party batting for us. (I apologize if you were drinking something). No. We have Trump, like him or not, and little else protecting us. He’s nearly one quarter finished with his presidency. Barring some miraculous recovery of national pride, dignity, and sense, when he’s gone, the liberals will move in and implement the plan. The idiotic, establishment GOP will go right along.
Really, the Trump effect aside, I think it’s a done deal. The bow ties will feebly protest and then cave and compromise. “Only this one time!” And one time, one chance may be all they get.
The good news, long-term, is that time is not ultimately on this thing’s side. 2033 is approaching faster than even yours truly cares to admit. And there’s the money we don’t have, not now and not going forward.
I thought about a little history - The Decline and Fall of Healthcare in America - but what’s the point? I do recall something semi-cogent out of the Congressional Record, circa the 1870’s: a Congress-Critter has concerned the people were “clamoring for communism.” The exact quote I have misplaced but the sentiment is correct. Clamor they did and clamor they still do. Again, the more things change…
In lieu of factual lessons, I simply pose a few parting questions for Uncle Bernie or anyone else:
- When has the government ever lowered the cost of anything?
- When has the government ever improved the efficiency of anything?
- When has the government ever told the truth about anything?
- When has the government ever been authorized to concern itself with healthcare?
The answer to all four happens to be the same: “never.” That’s also the approximate number of times the American people have intelligently resisted being fooled into some catastrophe.
Before we part, an appropriate jingle:
Picture by Card Fool.
Thank you, as always, gentle readers. Tune in next week when we turn our rapt attention to education, guns, the Farcebook, or possibly another work of fiction.
Fellow Terry College of Business (UGA) grad Brother Perrin Lovett is a true renaissance gentleman & scholar. A recovering attorney, he's into guns & cigars, and the US Constitution. A published author, Prepper columnist & YouTube personality, and an acclaimed blogger, TPC is very proud to have our old friend on board as the C.F. Floyd Feature Writer of National Affairs.
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