Anti-Socialism vs the Democratic Primary

[H2O Man]

As we approach the 2016 presidential election, one of the issues that will definitely be raised by the republican party -- no matter who the Democratic Party’s nominee is -- will be “socialism.” This will be primarily in the context of health care. And this is not new.

During the 2008 contest, for example, the top Democratic Party primary candidates had campaigned on proposed health care reform. As it became apparent that Senator Obama would become the party’s nominee, the republican operatives began to portray him as a “socialist.” Indeed, there were even Democrats who expressed concerns that by nominating Obama, the party would be at risk of repeating the 1972 McGovern experience.

What took place in 2008 -- and again in 2012 -- was that a significant shift in the Democratic Party allowed Brack Obama to win the presidency. This was due to several factors, of course, but among the most significant was the power of social media. Howard Dean’s campaign had hinted of this strength in 2004. The combined strength of what had formerly been considered minority groups in the Democratic Party were responsible for Obama’s victories in the ‘08 primaries, and both the ‘08 and ‘12 general elections, despite attempts to portray him as a socialist. Times change.

In the post-WW2 America, the public was misled into associating socialism with the Soviet Union and (“Red”) China. People confused the USSR’s system of conservative state capitalism, and China’s authoritarian rule, for socialism. This, despite the fact that two of the most significant dynamics in society -- workers’ unions and FDR’s “New Deal” -- brought Americans the benefits of socialism.

Americans in the lima bean decade of the 1950s were taught that socialism was the devil’s tongue. The “Cold War” pitted a beady-eyed, bearded Karl Marx against a blonde-haired, crew-cut-wearing Jesus. By the mid- to late 1960s, American citizens who refused to conform were suspected of being dupes for the enemy: Martin Luther King,, Jr., in particular, and the entire civil rights and anti-war movements were accused of being dirty commies. This strain of insanity would lead to Ronald Reagan’s efforts to destroy unions. And we see it today, in the republican war on public education.

At the same time, countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas were moving towards mixed economies, that included public health systems that are “socialist.” Today, in the US, popular programs such as Medicaid and Medicare -- and First Lady Hillary Clinton’s 1993 CHIP -- are socialist.

Thus, when the republican attacks begin, we can expect them to take two courses: first, the old and tired “socialist threat to freedom”; and second, the fall-back attempt to portray efforts at progress as “pie-in-the-sky.” Baloney. Every civilized nation has mixed economies that include some socialist programs. These enhance the quality of life.

That quality of life is what this election is all about. We need economic and environmental justice. And, as Martin Luther King, Jr., said on April 4, 1967, “We must rapidly begin the shift from a ‘thing-oriented’ society to a ‘people-oriented’ society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

[antigop]

1. Ronald Reagan and Operation Coffee Cup

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/How-AMA-Coffeecup-gave-Reagan-a-boost-3228367.php

This influence was never so evident as it was in 1961, when the AMA undertook Operation Coffeecup. This was a slick public relations effort undertaken by the AMA's Women's Auxiliary. The goal was to defeat legislation called King-Anderson, a congressional health care bill designed to assist older Americans that, in a watered-down version, ultimately came into being as Medicare.

While Operation Coffeecup did not murder Medicare, it did make the idea of government-supported health care exceptionally hazardous to your political health over the next five decades. It also helped launch the career of Ronald Reagan, the General Electric pitchman and aging movie actor from whose lips the epithet "socialized medicine" became a powerful weapon in his ultimately successful pursuit of the American presidency.

Operation Coffeecup was designed to enlist as many as 3,000 doctors' wives to arrange coffee klatches in the spring of 1961. Friends and neighbors would be invited to share coffee, and sponsors downplayed the subject matter as a benign, friendly, nonpartisan discussion of America health care issues. At the events, auxiliary members passed out brochures, answered questions, distributed pens, stamps and stationery and encouraged attendees to write letters - templates were made available - with which to inundate Congress and defeat King-Anderson.

The main course of Operation Coffeecup, however, was an LP record, kept secret until the event and prohibited from being broadcast. The record was called "Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine." In his 20-minute polemic, the host of television's "Death Valley Days" excoriated what he called "the foot-in-the-door" leftist technique that, he noted, was "one of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people ... by way of medicine."

[H2O Man]

3. Right!

Thank you for that.

In "Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked," Chris Matthews includes quotes of Reagan saying: "the New Deal was based on fascism" and that Medicare was "socialism and communism." (page 11)

[Gregorian]

2. ‘thing-oriented’ society to a ‘people-oriented’. That really sums up what I'm seeing with Bernie.

So much so that I'm reevaluating my own life. When I juxtapose Christie berating a potential voter, against Bernie's generous and caring ways, it becomes clear what is going on. One holds people in a high regard, while the other is a profit margin.

Today I had a fairly trivial realization. It was that not all relationships are real. Some are essentially business relationships. This came after years of studying the behavior of a friend. It is relatively devoid of human warmth. It's about attaining some goal which is always related to money. For years I wondered how anyone could have so many followers, as this man does. But I also realized that it's all two dimensional. It's all a means to an end rather than a flow of fun.

Bernie has shown what I believe is the courage and knowledge and approach to problem handling that he will finally dissolve the socialism criticisms forever, when they arise.

[m-lekktor]

4. what you describe in this piece as republican attacks

this part:

Thus, when the republican attacks begin, we can expect them to take two courses: first, the old and tired “socialist threat to freedom”; and second, the fall-back attempt to portray efforts at progress as “pie-in-the-sky.”

sounds like Hillary supporter attacks against Bernie.

[HereSince1628]

5. Interesting to read 'mixed economy', I've been thinking about that lately

I don't know if it was because my more than basic vocabulary was mostly developed in the 50's or if it was growing up in a Union household. But the notion that fully privatized capitalism and command economy socialism were not as appropriate as mixed-economic models is a thread I've carried almost all of my life.

For myself I've come to believe that there are moral and economic reasons for some things being banned from private enterprise. Where there is universal need public enterprise prevents price gouging on necessities of life, where providers must be maintained for the sake of the community, too important to risk failure, public enterprise is essential. I also have a moral aversion to profiteering off people's misery, or making people's lives miserable in order to promote profiteering.

Anyway, thanks for the blast from the past.