WHY NOT SOCIALISM?

"Socialism is a form of government that cannibalizes it's own assets."

I wish I could take credit for that quote, but the truth is; I heard it somewhere and can't remember where. Where ever it came from, I remembered it because I agreed with it. Socialism is not a revenue generating machine, but rather a way of redistributing wealth that already exists into the lower economic ranks where it will be consumed. Without the reintroduction of more wealth, it will simply slowly eat itself. Socialism is defined by Webster as; "A social system in which the producers (workers) possess both the political power and the means of producing and distributing goods." I would expand on that a little to include the fact that Socialism is the expansion of government into the role of protector, there to take care of your basic needs such as education, employment, and health care for better or worse.

With the release of Michael Moore's new movie, "SICKO", many Americans are now taking a second look at our system of government and wondering if an infusion of socialistic ideas could help us better serve the needs of the people. In this piece I'm going to review the idea of a more socialist U.S. and let you know which parts I feel are worth considering, and which are not.

The idea of Socialism has been around for a very long time in various forms. Most all were based on the idea that a caste-type system, or any system that has people of various social standings, is fundamentally wrong. Christian Socialism, for example, bases it's socialist beliefs in the teachings of Jesus. Jesus saw all men and women as equals and therefore, they believe, any system that values or empowers one person over another is fundamentally un-Christian.

I remember my first thoughts about the inequity of social standing coming from my Dad. He was a committed Walter Reuther Socialist. He believed that the real power of our country was rooted in the working man, not in the elites that ran the corporations. I can still hear him lecturing me on the evils of allowing the powerful to forget who does the real work around here. He's probably the reason I find myself so often siding with Labor and Unions and why I like to view myself as a fighter for the average Joe.

Without a doubt, the socialist movement of the 50's and '60's is a big reason that so many people here in Michigan prospered through their Unions. The empowerment of the labor class helped people like my Dad to live better lives, get better retirement, better working conditions, and a larger slice of the pie. So why the quote at the top of the page? Because just like what eventually happened to the auto workers here in Michigan, socialism proved that it kills the goose that lays the golden egg.

Here's where Socialism goes wrong. Let's say we are all collective farmers. We are each given 40 acres to farm and a tractor with implements. I'm a hard working and responsible farmer who takes care of his land and tractor but I live next door to a farmer who is neither responsible nor hard working. Despite our differences in effort, we are both viewed the same and rewarded for our efforts the same. Soon I notice that my neighbor has a new tractor because he didn't take care of his old one, that his house is kept up by the government because he refuses to do the work. Basically I realize that in order for us to remain equal in our possessions the government is rewarding him for being lazy while doing nothing for me because I take care of myself. No system can work that elevates those that do the least. It sucks the ambition out of the rest of us. Why try hard if the results are the same? This is the fundamental flaw of Socialism.

Another problem with Socialism as I see it is that it is parasitic in nature. Most Socialist countries spend a small fraction of their GDP on defense. The reason? They count on someone else defending them, like the U.S. defends Canada. If all the Socialist Countries in the world had to provide their own security, they would either have to abandon most of their programs or would be overrun by some far more aggressive country. Socialism is also parasitic in medicine. They rely heavily on drugs and procedures invented by Capitalistic countries. Once the Research and Development is done and the patents expire, they start mass producing generics for far cheaper than the companies that invented them. Without incentive (profit) to do all that R&D, advances in medicine would be badly crippled.

But what of the other aspects of Socialism? Some of them have merit. First among them for me is the idea of equal education. Part of the problem with Capitalism as practiced here in the U.S. is that our education system doesn't promote the most capable among us, it just maintains the status quo. Wealthier people are more likely to go to good schools and to go to good Universities. We don't promote our best and brightest among all of us, just the best among the already privileged. At the very least, every child should know that he has an equal chance to become anything he is willing to work hard to become. It saddens me to think that we may lose the person who could cure Cancer simply because they could not afford College or came from a low-rated school.

Second is access to health care. I honestly believe that no one could watch a child die of a disease due to his parent's lack of coverage while the child in the next bed with the same problem lives and still think that our system is not broken. I see too many jars in Party Stores with little children's faces on them begging for a bone marrow transplant, I hear far too many sad stories to stand by and take it any longer. I will be an advocate for Universal Coverage for at least catastrophic illness until the day I die or until it finally happens. It doesn't have to be Socialized Medicine, in fact, I think that it shouldn't be, but the idea of covering everyone is an idea who's time has come.

As we look around the world for good examples of where we want to be in taking care of the least among us, let us be careful. America allows people to dream, to believe that one day they too can be successful. Let's not destroy that dream because our system is in need of repair. Hard work should be rewarded, ambition and talent nurtured. The only thing that our system needs is fairer opportunity to succeed and the security of knowing that one unfortunate health event won't ruin your life. What we don't need is equal distribution of wealth or privilege and the killing off of the spirit of doing your best. If we can stay focused, we can fix these things without turning our country inside out. Why not Socialism? Because when your the most prosperous country on Earth, with the ability to cure all your own problems, you don't start following less prosperous countries with bigger problems. H.C.