Here is the problem, most people who are using the word socialism have no idea what it means. If they did, they would also know that we have a lot of socialistic values governing in this country now, just like most systems that have democratic principles.
Here is a lesson on socialism and what it means to you and how it currently benefits the elite.
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Socialism
a theory or system of social organization in which the means of production and distribution of goods are owned and controlled collectively or by the government.
Communism
a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.
There are no candidates that even come close to those two models.
Capitalism
an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, esp. as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth.
Currently, in the USA, we are a federal republic with democratic principles under a capitalistic economic system and socialism for needed services.
Those needed services are things such as:
Military
Police
Public Education
State, federal and city infrastructures are a mixture of socialism and capitalism working together.
Welfare
etc.
The only area where we are lacking socialism with needed services is our medical system for the average American. Yet the ones who pass the laws, our federally elected officials, enjoy a socialistic medical system. We have to put up with the BS from insurance companies.
Most people have no idea what we are, what kind of government we really have, how that all breaks down in the most simple terms, which would make it blatantly easy to see the contradictions.
I really wish the nay sayers about universal health care would, at the very least, demand that our elected representative stop giving themselves a free ride, or come to the realization that socialism for needed services can be a very good thing for the welfare of our country.
Plus, universal health care is guaranteed in our constitution in the preamble.
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We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
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Anyone who says the preamble doesn't count doesn't realize, if that is ignored, then we must ignore the whole constitution. Every word counts.
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"insure the domestic tranquility"
Is our society tranquil if a catastrophic illness happens and we loose everything we have worked for our whole lives gets eaten up in bankruptcy court?
"establish justice"
is it justice when we have the highest medical costs in the world that affectively takes away all we have worked for because our insurance ran out, the insurance we paid for but in the end fails us?
"Promote the General Welfare"
Some say that the founding fathers didn't mean "promote the general welfare" meant welfare for the people. But back then, the local doctor and surgeon was usually the local barber. There is no way on earth they could envision the practice of medicine today that takes up billions of dollars. Welfare of the country is indeed part of the welfare for the people. Anything less is spitting on our Constitution.
"We the People"
We keep forgetting, "We the People" is paramount to everything else. Our constitution guarantees the country look out for the people and their interests.
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50% of all bankruptcies are due to medical bills
50% of those had medical insurance that ran out.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0202-08.htm
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Many Americans do not have insurance, or the employer offered insurance they can not afford
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/04/26/MNGFEIFEGT1.DTL
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THINK ABOUT IT
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Life is so simple, but we insist on making it complicated
Confucius
551 - 479 BC
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Peace
Jim
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Source(s)
Links on health care costs, fraud and countries comparisons
http://www.kff.org/insurance/snapshot/chcm010307oth.cfm
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0815/is_10_28/ai_108994048
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States#Administrative_costs
http://thehill.com/the-executive/federal-investigators-recoup-2.2b-in-healthcare-fraud-prosecutions-2008-02-14.html
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