Call Me a "Socialist," I Don't Care

It dawned on me the other day just how much time the rightwing fanatics and their media puppet-masters, who'll happily feed them rhetorical red meat of any ilk in exchange for their attention when they're hawking their corporate sponsors' wares, have spent calling people names since Obama got into office. In their impotency since losing the White House, Senate, House and anything even resembling credibility when it comes to fiscal responsibility or national security issues, and with no other narrative behind which they can rally, they have instead launched a campaign of name calling, especially when it comes to the president: Marxist! Socialist! Fascist!

Upon close examination of the facts, the only "evidence" for any of these (frequently contradictory) claims falls under the "he/she knew someone whose uncle's sister's neighbor's mailman had a friend who knew a communist" category. But name calling remains an action. It's one action that frustrated rightwingers can use to express their anger at having lost power, so it persists. And it's not just the fringes...the Republican Party itself sees the name calling as its ticket back into power, voting to "condemn Democrats for what it called a 'march toward socialism.'"

What's disappointing in all this isn't how infantile people become when they feel dis-empowered (I witnessed a similar meltdown on the left when Bush became president). What's disappointing is how much the leaders on the left seem to care about the names they're being called. Even the president felt compelled to tell a group of CEOs that he wasn't a "socialist." And across the Democratic Party there seems to be an anus-twitching reluctance to actually USE the power they earned through the last election for fear of being called a name (right before they run for re-election, again, that is).

Now I'm fully aware of the power of a meme in the hands of the hacks who run Fox News or the twisted f*cks we call political consultants, like Karl "Turd Blossom" Rove, who'll sell their grandmothers to win a news cycle (I lived in DC for many years and know many of these freaks...and I can tell you that many of them would barely pass as "human" should the test be based on actual compassion), but when you take the time to realize the impact of letting the fear of what a label that sticks might do to stop the Democrats from using their power, it becomes clear that they simply don't have that option. They cannot, we cannot, afford to care.

Especially when it comes to health insurance reform. None of the proposals the Republicans have put forward yet :

Investing in preventive medicine, an overhaul of Medicaid, reduction of abuse and fraud in the Medicare program, supplemental health insurance for low-income families, tax credits for health insurance, and a ban on federal funds being used for abortions.

...will stop the runaway increases the insurance companies are implementing. Bandages here and bandages there might stop some superficial bleeding, but won't help an internal hemorrhaging. And yet, the Republicans, bankrupt on ideas and having squandered their chance to effect serious change for Americans during the previous administration, vow to do everything in their power to stop the reform bill being advanced by the Democrats. And how? By calling it "socialist."

There was a time in America when people were hunted down and dragged before Congress and blacklisted and had their lives ruined because some ambitious sh*t of a politician saw that calling them "socialist" was his path to power. The impact of that period in our history was, in part, to make the idea of being a "socialist" second only to being a child molester in terms of heinousness in most people's minds. Socialism was the opposite of Americanism. It was evil. It was ungodly.

I'm not concerned here with a debate on the merits of socialism, per se. As I understand it, it's flawed in that it disregards a big chunk of human nature. I do feel it's more compassionate in theory than capitalism, but the "in theory" vs. "in practice" part is where I get a bit uncomfortable with it in its purist forms. None of that matters to me. What we need in America, right here, right now are some alternatives to the current health care system that will correct the inhumane ways the insurance industry places profits over their customers' well-being and ensure greater access to health care for more people.

In his speech on Health Insurance Reform the other day, President Obama said:

We've been talking about health care for nearly a century. I’m reading a biography of Teddy Roosevelt right now. He was talking about it. Teddy Roosevelt. We have failed to meet this challenge during periods of prosperity and also during periods of decline. Some people say, well, don't do it right now because the economy is weak. When the economy was strong, we didn’t do it. We’ve talked about it during Democratic administrations and Republican administrations. I got all my Republican colleagues out there saying, well, no, no, no, we want to focus on things like cost. You had 10 years. What happened? What were you doing?

There is no rational reason for not acting now. No argument about other priorities holds water. They're all simply endorsements of the status quo. We need to act now. Why? President Obama explained:

Every year, the problem gets worse. Every year, insurance companies deny more people coverage because they’ve got preexisting conditions. Every year, they drop more people’s coverage when they get sick right when they need it most. Every year, they raise premiums higher and higher and higher.

Just last month, Anthem Blue Cross in California tried to jack up rates by nearly 40 percent -- 40 percent. Anybody’s paycheck gone up 40 percent?

[...] I mean, why is it that we think this is normal? In my home state of Illinois, rates are going up by as much as 60 percent. You just heard Leslie, who was hit with more than a hundred percent increase -- 100 percent. One letter from her insurance company and her premiums doubled. Just like that. And because so many of these markets are so concentrated, it’s not like you can go shopping. You’re stuck. So you’ve got a choice: Either no health insurance, in which case you’re taking a chance if somebody in your family gets sick that you will go bankrupt and lose your home and lose everything you’ve had -- or you keep on ponying up money that you can’t afford.

See, these insurance companies have made a calculation. Listen to this. The other day, there was a conference call that was organized by Goldman Sachs. You know Goldman Sachs. You’ve been hearing about them, right? (Laughter.) So they organized a conference call in which an insurance broker was telling Wall Street investors how he expected things to be playing out over the next several years, and this broker said that insurance companies know they will lose customers if they keep on raising premiums, but because there’s so little competition in the insurance industry, they’re okay with people being priced out of the insurance market because, first of all, a lot of folks are going to be stuck, and even if some people drop out, they’ll still make more money by raising premiums on customers that they keep.

And they will keep on doing this for as long as they can get away with it. This is no secret. They’re telling their investors this: We are in the money; we are going to keep on making big profits even though a lot of folks are going to be put under hardship.

The current reform bill may not be everything everyone hoped it would be, but not passing it won't magically implement the perfect bill in its place. Not passing it will only ensure nothing changes for a very long time except our premiums, and I can guarantee you they're not changing for the better.

Sticks and stones may break our bones, but names will never hurt us. At least no where near as much as 40-100% increases in health insurance premiums will. If the Turd Blossom Brigade or RNC sees labeling the reform bill as "socialist" as the best way to disguise their lack of real reform ideas, then the rest of us have to say "So what? Call me a 'socialist.' I don't care. Just pass the damn bill already."