Isms. Let's Get it Straight, OK?

A lot of talk about isms these days don't you think? I've heard that Obama is taking this country towards "socialism". So I thought I'd do what everyone who throws that term around should do... research.

Socialism is a belief in an economic model where wealth and power are distributed based on the amount of work expended in production. It involves economic organization that advocates public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources.

Socialism and Capitalism are competing economic theories. Socialism and Democracy are not. So let's analyze the way socialism is being used with the healthcare debate. Critics (and let's assume we're referring to critics of healthcare reform rather than simply critics of Obama since the latter seem to be critics of anything the man does) say that the government sponsoring healthcare insurance is socialism. It's not. Government taking over healthcare would be socialistic behavior but that's not what's being proposed.

But would that be so bad? There are some things in my life that are ok by me to be run by the government. Police, Fire, Prisons, and Healthcare are all high on my list. Am I scared that the government will mess it up? No. Because the government is not some entity outside of me. I am a part of this government. And if I feel healthcare is going down the crapper, I'll stand up and protest and you can bet millions of others will also and it will change again.

Here's a simple question to ask yourself... Do you want your fire fighters determining how profitable it is for them to put out the fire on your house based on how much you pay in property taxes? No? Then why do you want a health insurance company doing that when your life is on the line?

Pretty simple, isn't it?