America’s Rush toward Socialism.

When our forefathers penned the Constitution their objective was to create a republic’s government that disallowed all forms of tyranny, and because no previous government allowed total self-rule, they focused on future citizen rights. They focused on preserving freedom and not on the unknown benefits freedom might bring, such as wealth or world domination of any sort (financial, political or military). Our forefather’s primary objective was to provide long-term individual freedom; a personal thing for each future citizen irrespective of our unknown future that was to be delivered through the absence of government interference; or our republic’s every day laws.
To that effort our ingenious forefathers composed the world’s first long-range forward-looking document based on total self rule by the governed. A document which contained a number of safeguards to protect citizens from government abuse with the ultimate freedom safeguard: each voting age citizen is regularly empowered to direct the government through his secret vote when we elect our republic’s lawmakers. They penned, concerned with government abuses, a document so just its governed masses eventually eliminated the world’s worst form of tyranny, human slavery. They penned, concerned with government abuses they were trying to escape, a long-range forward-looking document whose free citizens produced nearly half of the world’s wealth in 2007, the US Constitution. A US Constitution that offered opportunity through freedom and hard work rather than unearned gratuity delivered through socialistic ideals; a governance philosophy the vast majority of our federal lawmakers have (totally) abandoned today in favor of gleaning reelection guarantees. What have we done?
Democracy is, thus far, the world’s least confrontational avenue to freedom, and America’s brief history clearly proves freedom is the greatest provider of individual opportunity, creativity, wealth, and stability—or attributes every world citizen likely wishes for himself. Individual freedoms which allow humans anywhere to dedicate a lifetime of hard work toward personal and family stability, business success, the accumulation of our worlds many varieties of wealth—or any other worthy goal; all of the aforementioned being incompatible with socialism. Socialism’s share-the-wealth philosophy will ultimately replace each governed individual’s motivation to succeed with dependency; the enemy of creativity, opportunity, and the enemy of labor—always.
We now know much of 2007’s reported wealth was based on inflated US asset values or undervalued liability and overrated bundled asset credit risk estimates countries around the world scoffed up with the gusto of a hound dog. American successes—temporarily—delivered through individual greed and highly touted socialistic government ideals duped the world; everything based on the US dollar.
Today half of the earth’s people live on less than two dollars per day, and half of those live on less than a dollar per day. Today more people in China live on less than a dollar per day than exist in all of North America (USA, Canada & Mexico). Why do you suppose this is? We enjoy freedom, China doesn’t. All free nations enjoy wealth.
To 21st century Americans, those figures might seem insignificant when we hear our politicians abandon our forefathers basic government philosophy in favor of socialistic entitlements as they throw billion and trillion dollar figures around as if they were nothing. And just to remind us how big a billion is—a billion minutes ago Jesus Christ was alive. A billion seconds ago the year was 1977 and nearly half of today’s American citizens had not been born. A trillion is one thousand billion and today America’s congressionally created fiscal irresponsibility grows our national debt at the rate of $4.3 billion per day—more than $1.5 trillion per year. Are we committing political suicide; or is it financial suicide? I can’t tell the difference.

ENTITLEMENTS
Tax Dollars in . . . unearned benefits out.

Webster’s New World Dictionary gets right to the point when it defines entitlement as: “something to which one is entitled, esp. a benefit, as Medicare, provided by certain government programs.” Medicaid, on the other hand, is a government managed health services provider where participants pay premiums to, supposedly, offset expenses so program participants will cover all Medicaid costs if it is manages as a GOVERNMENT PRIVATIZED BUSINESS. Good luck.
If there is any doubt our Medicaid Entitlement and Privatized Medicare management systems should not have been placed in the hands of the federal government (by our federal lawmakers) a quick comparison to what predicted costs would be compared with historical data (reality) should convince you.
In 1996 our Medicare entitlement alone cost taxpayers $3,000,000,000 and the House Ways and Means Committee (comprised of our federal lawmakers) estimated that Medicare would cost, adjusted by inflation, reach $12,000,000,000 by 1990. The actual 1990 Medicare taxpayer burden was $107,000,000,000 however; or nine times what the general public was led to believe when our federal lawmakers worked their magic protecting the governed from all dangers foreign and domestic shortly after our Medicare entitlement became law. This year, 2010, our Medicare entitlement will cost taxpayers more than $427,000,000,000.
You do the math. America’s most expensive government entitlement program, adjusted for inflation, now exceeds one thousand percent of its original costs, all because lobbyists (driven by profit) representing health insurance and medical services providers (driven by profit) convinced federal lawmakers (protected from accountability) Medicaid was too necessary, too humane, and way too expensive to be self sustaining without government intervention. Add to that the cost of Medicaid and 2010 taxpayer burden will easily exceed $690,000,000,000.
We are rapidly approaching a 2000% under cost estimate and what did our federal lawmakers do in March of 2010? To further protect us from all dangers foreign and domestic they added thirty five million uninsured citizens to our already out of control health care programs explaining that will somehow reduce costs in the long run. Sure it will. Bunches. My prayer is that 3/23/2010 doesn’t become the day that lives in infamy at the day America traded Democracy for Socialism.
Are we committing political suicide; or is it financial suicide? I can’t tell the difference. Medicare and Medicaid expenses alone account for nearly one sixth of our annual tax revenues ($4,171,025,593 in 2008) , and they represent but 1 (albeit the largest) of 33 government entitlement programs. Forget Homeland Security, our Military, Social Security, Amtrak, the US Postal Service, and many more taxpayer funded liabilities our federal lawmakers saddle us with. After all, they (our current 111th congressional lawmakers) have just saved the governed by radically expanding our healthcare entitlements and bailout nationalizations. I guess we are lucky the Fed can print money from nothing with the same lack of accountability.
America isn’t descending toward Socialism; our federal lawmakers are racing toward Socialism because we American voters allow it. Our lazy and uneducated minority demand unearned entitlements our lawmakers scurry to provide in their scramble for votes. Our current generation-after-generation of entitlement dependent recipients demand more unearned entitlements our lawmakers scurry to provide in their scramble for votes and too hell with recipient or provider accountability.
Does our healthcare system need change? You bet! It needs to be mover into the free market where the same bozos (lobbyists and executives and marketing gurus) that fight to protect their windfall business arrangements must transfer that same creative genius to reduce healthcare costs. Help support the American dream rather than scramble to suck it dry.
This article is nonfiction however let’s examine a few common sense facts about known worldwide healthcare attributes:
One – Today, America owns and is home to the best and furthest advanced healthcare in the world. Good.
Two – Today, The portions of America’s healthcare system that drove it to prominence are the medical practices, drugs, medical and health training and medical products that were not managed by the government. Regarding healthcare the US government is strictly an administrator or dare I say regulator. Good.
Three – Today the world comes here to purchase what is not readily available throughout the world. Good.
Four – Today our federal lawmakers demand American citizens greatly expand citizen access to the world’s least efficient healthcare delivery system, more likely to drive costs up (drastically) than down (minimally) if history is any indicator of accuracy. Bad.
Five – Today American healthcare costs have soared to the point it is cheaper and wiser to develop future medical technology and products outside our boarders. Bad, very bad.
Six – Today our current collection of misguided and inept federal lawmakers (our 111th congress membership without exception) are doing nothing to reduce healthcare costs, all while making law that can only increase both entitlements and government run Medicaid costs. Bad.
Seven – Today voter apathy and our own government’s intervention has virtually removed American healthcare potential from growth within the world’s free markets. We (by 111th congressional mandated law) have now placed the world’s best healthcare system in peril. Americans are now traveling abroad to buy what they can’t afford here. Bad.
Eight – Most of the provisions included in the Healthcare Reform Bill President Obama signed into law 3/23/2010 are not only needed and necessary, they are popular. So are many of the Republican provisions, however neither party is willing to relinquish control for what out healthcare system really needs. Lower healthcare costs across the board only the free market can deliver. Less government micro management and less government interference.
I believe know there is enough worldwide demand for American healthcare services that, if our government replaced Medicare and Medicaid with a Medical Standard modeled after the Accounting Standard presented in Runaway Debt, Flat Taxes & Voter Apathy , healthcare costs would tumble as quickly as the same ingenious healthcare industry lobbyists and federal lawmakers that drove them up scrambled to compete within the free market. There is too mush money, demand, and too many competing industry players involved not to be successful in the free market. Remember it was the free market that created our healthcare products and services before our government stepped in (by federal lawmaker intervention) to save us from ourselves back in the 1960’s, think about it—then go vote. Our ONLY healthcare problem is government intervention and what all lawmaker constituents need is less government! That’s not complicated!

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We could go on for hours detailing both entitlements and failing businesses that are privatized (via bailout) by our federal lawmakers with your money, but you get the point. When a business fails due to mismanagement it is VERY DUMB to turn it over to a far worse manager. Freedom and the free market forces will ALWAYS exceed government intervention with its inevitable regulations that twist to provide inclusive or exclusive favoritism. Amtrak and the US Postal Service have NEVER shown a profit or paid a taxpayer dividend as promised. And the Fed, created by our federal lawmakers less than 100 years ago to protect the US dollar by stabilizing its value has managed to, under total government control, safeguard nothing. Today’s dollar, corrected for inflation, is worth less than a nickel. INCREDIBLY DUMB.
Our federal government’s job is to protect the governed, not manage the banking, automotive, healthcare or any other industry. Protecting the governed is what lawmakers are paid to do, long-term, and somehow congress has drifted so far off course, concentrating on everything except our future. The only change America really needs is less government, much less government with its incipient restriction that can be twisted to provide inclusive or exclusive favoritism. Amtrak and the US Postal Service have NEVER shown a profit or paid a taxpayer dividend as promised. Really VERY DUMB.

Donald I. Quigg
Anderson, S.C.