a teeny-weeny bit of socialism?
I know that a lot of you are baking or broiling in the early summer heat, but up here the ample
rains and winteresque tempartures have us calling this month June-uary. It drizzled to poured
all yesterday. I cranked up the woodstove to knock the chill out of the air.
We’ve averaged 50 millimetres (2 inches) of precipitation the past four Junes on the farm.
We’ve had 186 mm so far this month, and we’re pushing 16 already today.
I put up a lot of firewood yesterday. We had a huge stack of it under our even huger maple
tree, so I had enough canopy to work comfortably and safely. I even had time to sit in the
tree’s swing and listen to selected favourites from the Miami Sound Machine’s Primitive Love
tape. I was blasting it with headphones on, saving me from any inkling of how I was handling
“Words Get in the Way”. Slinkee supplied some feedback, though, by howling along.
According to the usually-accurate-within-20-hours Environment Canada weather website,
it’s supposed to clear up this afternoon. Nonetheless, at mid-morning it looks like it’s going
to be around much longer than that. I’ve made coffee and enhanced it with Kahlua Especial.
I’m prepared to stay in all day.
This allows me some time to ponder the significance of the ruling by SCOTUS to uphold
Obamacare. I’m sorting through predictable smugness from the Left and even more
wrongeous indignation from the Right. The threadbare claims that this is terminal socialism
echo the original response to the crown jewel of FDR’s New Deal, the Social Security Act.
This seminal legislation was drafted in 1935 by Roosevelt’s Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins,
the first woman to hold a Cabinet post. It now includes retirement assistance, disability insur-
ance, unemployment benefits, Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare. It’s the very spine of the
national safety net that has helped countless Americans. The Old Age program alone keeps
about 40 percent of people 65+ out of poverty.
A member of the Senate Finance Committee asked Perkins in a hearing if the Act was socialism.
She just said no. He persisted, “Isn’t this a teeny-weeny bit of socialism?”
I can assure you from observing the U.S. political scene for 50+ years that the percentage of
socialism, if any, contained in Obamacare will never be determined. It will be debated without
resolution for the rest of our natural lives.
In the meantime, the health insurance companies and their minions will continue to undermine
this admirable step toward universal coverage. Good on ya, Obama, for this courageous act.
Anchor Struck 