Time for Progressives to confront the right-wing Doublespeak

Over and over again, we see right-wingers describe any call for a national health care plan as “socialist medicine.” They try to direct our attention to Canada, Cuba, and Great Britain, whose national health policies are viewed as “failed” to the right-wing. They have brainwashed the average American to feel that the idea of guaranteed health care for everyone is something bad, inefficient, and less than what we have now. It’s time to call them on their propaganda.

We need to shift the focus about the potential problems of such a plan, including potential costs, and problems distributing the care. What we need to be asking ourselves about health care and about every other social program that the right-wing has successfully dismantled during the past 20 years is, “What kind of country do I want to live in?”

What kind of country do you want to live in?

A country where health care is only available to those who can afford to participate in the gargantuan and inefficient system we have in place now, or some tweaked version where everyone is forced to pay premiums to bureaucrats that skim the money (profits) away from the persons who need the health care?

Or, would you rather live in a country where the basic human right of access to health care is equally distributed to everyone?

Would you rather live in a country with scandalously few unemployment benefits, or one in which you could be guaranteed a basic minimum amount of income for such things as medical emergencies, the loss of a job, or perhaps to be able to quit an intolerable job rather than be forced to stay there for fear of losing one’s home or medical coverage?

It is way past time for us to take control of this debate, which has been framed in such a way as to demonize any sort of wealth redistribution, even when basic human needs are the focus. We need a government that considers basic human needs FIRST in all stages of planning. The redistribution of wealth is not an evil, sinful idea. In fact, the opposite is true. It strikes me as criminal how the right-wing preaches otherwise, especially when so-called religious leaders are partnered with those who profess this line of thinking.

What kind of country would YOU rather live in?