Fixing What Aint Broken

SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE, AND MEDICAID are three foundational components of the American economic system, for two reasons.They have existed over a long period of time,and they have all proven to be marvelously efective in attaining their stated purpose. They have withstood the test of time. All three were and are intended to alleviate the financial burdens of post employment senior citizenship, by providing, as Roosevelt said; "some measure of security" to elderly and retired workers,and by guaranteeing medical health insurance to the same demographic. FDR gave us Social Seurity, LBJ completed the New Deal by signinginto law the other two. The premise is simple; people work their entire lives and contribute to the system,and when they need to use the system, their money is there, waiting for them. Savings accounts, in effect. All three programs have greatly improved the quality of life for tens of millions of Americans. Social Security has virtually eliminated desperate poverty among the elderly,Medicare has provided medical health security for the same demographic, and Medicaid has given America's many poor people basic medical care. One might almost think it impossible to favor financial cuts to any of the three, or to advocate their total elimination. And yet, many Republican political leaders do just that. Whether most of their constituents feel similarly remains uncertain. Certainly people who depend on these programs,and that includes a large percentage of Americans, do not. You would almost think that advocating against these programs would be political suicide.It should be, and indeed may well prove to be. Conservative Republicans have for years been saying that we the Amerian people want to be less rather than more like Europe. Surveys consistantly indicate that quite the opposite is true. As flim maker MIchael Moore points out, the Amerian people are basically, majority progressive. A majority of the American people are favorably inclined to socialism, as long as it isn't called "socialism". Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,for those unconversant with the definition of "socialism", are socialism. I recall once,in a conversation with a conservative Republican, informing him of this obvious fact. He angrily recoiled at the very thought, and replied: "No, that's not socialism, that's just progress". Obviously he was quite happy with his monthly Social Security check,as well he should have been, for without it he would have probably been homeless. But so great was his contempt for the word "socialism", probably because of decades of corporate indoctrination, that he refused to call it what it is: "socialism". I can only presume that in his creative imagination, all public streets,bridges, highways,public schools,police and fire departments,and the military are all privately owned non governmental profit seeking businesses operating in the free market. Alarmingly, humorously, this lover and denier of soialism is typical of contemporary American conservative attitudes. The solution is simple. If enough people are willing to praise the virtues of our glorious free market capitalitic Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid programs, the Republicans will mmediatly on board,,and not only strongly support them, but propose legslation increasing government subsidies for them. Everyone knows how those Repubicans love socialism for the corporate wealthy, and neoliberal capitalism for everyone else.