Saturday, March 06, 2010

America’s Fragile Freedom Smashed by the Hammer of Socialism! (REVISED)


America’s Fragile Freedom Smashed by the Hammer of Socialism! (REVISED and Updated)
ObamaCare 2.0 is Pure Socialized Medicine.
A Commentary by: J. D. Longstreet
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(Americans are being pounded with politicians decrying the state of our healthcare system. Obama is calling for his own sort of socialized medicine we have chosen to refer to as “ObamaCare.” Today it has become known as “ObamaCare 2.0.”)

We have very few freedoms left in this formerly great (and FREE) country. The fastest way to lose those we have left is to have a National Healthcare Program administered by the Federal Government.

I have quoted “someone” a number of times on this site that said: “If you think Healthcare is expensive now… wait ‘til it’s free!” Truer wirds have never been spoken!

I have a food bank near me. I watch as folks drive up in fancy, expensive, automobiles and load their trunks up with free food. I watch as lines form to get the “free” food with those in the line chattering away on their cell phones. . It occurred to me that what I am seeing is exactly what will happen to our healthcare system if the government pronounces it free! People who haven’t been to a doctor in many years will suddenly have an urge to visit a physician. I mean -- it’s FREE! No matter that it is estimated that roughly 40% of all illnesses will eventually run their courses and the patient will be returned to good health, whether or not they see a physician. I mean… damn, it’s FREE!

Soon the hospitals and doctors will be swamped with the tsunami of new patients. (Already America is suffering a shortage of doctors.) The system, not able to handle it, will collapse. It will fall to the government to decide who sees the doctor and when. And that, dear reader, is when things REALLY get screwed-up! A bureaucrat will be making decisions on whether YOU see a doctor, or not, and which doctor you will see… and when. And it goes down hill from there.

I know I sound like somebody in perfect health who is not sensitive to the problems of people with illnesses. Well, if you think that, you are incorrect. I have been hospitalized between over 75 times in my life. I have an incurable disease, which will eventually, directly, or indirectly, cause my death. I am a walking, talking, “pharmacy tech” who has never had a day of formal training. Thank God, my offspring IS a Doctor of Pharmacy.

The long and the short of it is… I know about the healthcare system in America, because I have seen it, experienced it, if you will; close up, for my entire life. And must tell you, I have seen it implode in the past 20 years, or so, and I know why. Among my close friends are doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and radiologists with whom that I am on a first name basis.

One of the reasons we are in such a situation is the illegal immigration in this country. It has put such a tremendous load on our healthcare system that it is near collapse today..

We have been told that if you don’t have insurance you cannot be treated in America. That, to put it bluntly, is a lie of the first order. If you show up at a hospital emergency room in America it is against the law for the hospital to turn you away and not treat you… whether or not you can pay. If you doubt me, I invite you to choose a hospital close to you and drop in on the Emergency Department on any weekend. You will quickly see the truth in what I am telling you here. Many Emergency Departments have had to close down simply because they can no longer afford to care for those without insurance in America.

So far, the hospitals have been passing along the cost of treating those without insurance to those with insurance. That’s why a cotton ball, which you can purchase in any department store, will cost you about a penny, or less, but the same cotton ball will cost you several dollars in an American hospital. SOMEBODY has to pay. Problem is… the hospitals have reached a saturation point with their insured patient’s insurance companies. Some insurance companies are, even now, sending their subscribers overseas for surgery. Contrary to what you may have heard, they are not sending them overseas for a better quality of care… but for a lower cost to the insurance company!

If you think our healthcare system is in a mess now, as Al Jolson would say: “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”

We have all dealt with government bureaucrats at some point in our lives. You already know the tedium, you know the frustration. Wait ‘til your doctor is a bureaucrat!

And finally, NOTHING is FREE! Those who are determined to create a nanny state here in the USA will tell you the National Healthcare System will be free. That, dear reader is a crock, a load of bovine scatology! You are going to pay for it. I’m going to pay for it. Taxes will go sky high… and then some.

The politics of Universal Healthcare is pure socialism. You can call it what you want, but the bare fact is… it is socialism!

There has been a movement underway, in this country, which the democrat party adopted, way back in the fifties and sixties, to turn America into a socialist state like unto Europe. They have almost accomplished their goal. Universal Healthcare will be their crowning achievement!

For all intents and purposes, America is no longer a democratic republic. America has already become a socialist state. Those of us old codgers who remember when we were prepared to go to war to fight the spread of socialism cringe when we see how our country, America, has deteriorated into the black hole of socialism. We cringe when we hear today’s politicians, national leaders, as it were, spouting Marxist slogans from the floor of the Congress. The national nightmare has become the American dream. Now we wait to see “American Socialism” suffocate the human spirit in Americans as it has already begun to do.

The ObamaCare 2.0 plan is more socialism. It will only strengthen the power the government already has over the citizens of America. The “Public Option” will cause those of us who have healthcare provided by our employers, or former employers to lose our healthcare and leave us no choice but to migrate to one of Obama’s Healthcare “exchanges,” and ultimately to the government-run health insurance company.

Even though the public option is not a part of ObamaCare 2.0 rest assured that it will be – and soon. Understand ObamaCare 2.0 is only a “starter plan.” The socialist government we have in charge in America today plans to continue passing healthcare packages extending the reach of ObamaCare 2.0 until it encompasses everything the original plan contained including the Public Option and much, much, more. One day, when it is far too late, Americans will look back and ask themselves; “How did we allow this to happen?” But, of course, as we said, it will be too late. Our government shackles will restrain us from turning back the clock until we can recapture our lost freedom. We will be slaves to an all powerful socialist central government

America was once, not very long ago, a land of unlimited possibilities…a land of new horizons everyday. No longer. We have chosen security over freedom. That’s all it took. Freedom is s fragile thing. One blow from the hammer of socialism and freedom shatters… and is no more.

Those of us who remember the REAL America weep for our country.

J. D. Longstreet

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