A WORD ABOUT SOCIALISM

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D. (7/14/09)

Throughout my life I've benefited from good, old-fashioned American socialism. The water and power systems in my home town were owned by the city, but, more importantly, I went through college on the G.I. Bill. If it hadn't been for my socialized education, I would've gone to a community college rather than Princeton University. One of my brothers finished his college education in the Navy's V-12 program and earned his doctorate on the G.I. Bill.

Our socialized education was only part of the story. I've been the beneficiary of socialized medicine for the past 17 years. It's called Medicare. In addition to that, I have benefited from another form of socialized medicine for the last 12 years, the Veterans Administration. My experiences at the VA Clinic in Bellemont have been salutary and rewarding.

Many people fault the VA for inadequate and faulty care, but the fault does not lie with the VA but with a Republican Administration which for eight years under-funded the VA, neglecting the young people it sent in harm's way.

I might add that most physicians were trained in institutions funded by the government, such as county hospitals and teaching hospitals which makes the physicians the beneficiaries of socialized medicine.

If people point to socialized medicine as a failure, they should point to capitalistic medicine instead, the millions of uninsured, deceitful and ruthless drug companies, and physicians' offices plastered with drug advertisements, making them resemble the NASCAR circuit. It's time to get capitalism out of medicine.