I'm Thankful for Socialism

Republicans can't whip people into a frenzy over Iraq, terrorism, gay rights or abortion anymore, so they've settled on a new target - socialism. For some reason, they're under the impression that Americans are just genetically opposed to it. That's because Republicans sit on their high horses, out of touch with average Americans like me. I'm thankful for socialism, in particular social security, Medicare and Medicaid, and I'm not alone.

In the past 5 weeks, I've attended 4 funerals, including my mother's, and I've learned that most families are very thankful that their loved ones had Medicare to cover medical bills and Social Security to cover part of their daily living expenses.

I also learned that young people wish they had something like Medicare to fall back on. They're worrying themselves sick because they don't have health care, and they're more than willing to pay extra taxes in return for coverage.

In my mother's case, she also received Medicaid, which enabled us to put her in a nursing home 2 years ago. She was 86-years-old at the time, had outlived her money a long time ago, and was in the end stages of Alzheimer's. We couldn't emotionally and financially care for her at home anymore and Medicaid was a godsend. My mother had round-the-clock nursing care, and for the last 6 months she even had hospice, which meant she was kept pain free up till the end.

Incidentally, don't buy into the Republican myth that socialized medicine prevents you from choosing your doctor. My mother had physicians from the best hospitals in the area to choose from. Ditto nursing homes. We visited several places before deciding on the one we liked. (I guess Republicans haven't heard of choice limiting HMOs or PPOs.)

My mom was a blessing to us, just like all of your loved ones are blessings, and it makes me angry when I hear people like Mike Huckabee say, "Lenin and Stalin would love this stuff," or other Republicans who throw around terms like "Comrade," as though socialism is dirty and disgusting, and by extension so are the beneficiaries of it. How dare they insult people like my mother. She did the best she could in life to work hard and pay her fair share in taxes. And even if she hadn't worked a day in her life, she deserved health care and a death with dignity because she was one of us.

It's not socialism to provide health care or a roof over a person's head, it's the right thing to do. It's the Christian thing to do.

Thank you America for looking after my mother. Your tax dollars made her last few years here on earth more comfortable. God bless you all.