Reflections on Health Care Reform

I remember as a teenager my now late step-father saying matter-of-factly that he thought in the future America would go to socialized medicine. He didn’t say it with any particular glee or disdain, nor paranoia that government run health care meant that suddenly we'd be living in 1984 or Logan's Run. I'm not sure; perhaps he looked at Medicare and thought government run medicine wasn't so horrifying. Apparently he thought this was simply a way government would keep insurance companies from driving costs out of hand and as a way that government could make sure more people had a safety net for their health.

The thing is my step-father was one of the officers for the local VFW (he was drafted and served in the Vietnam War). He wasn’t a fan of the flight to Canada thing. I remember on several occasions him saying, "America, love it or leave it," in response to news clips where people burned the flag. He voted for Bush at least once and probably the second time too. He was the guy who ordered a steak instead of salad, who went hunting and fishing on weekends.

I can’t know if my step-dad would have voted for President Obama. I doubt it. I think John McCain - and the fact Senator McCain has at times been a thorn in the side of his own party because he cares more about issues than party loyalty - was my step-dad's type of candidate.

But this veteran of the Vietnam war and small town, family man would not have been a part of the insinuations I'm seeing that the President is a no-good commie and so are you if you agree that our country should come up with a (not particularly socialist) way to provide affordable health care to those who don't have it.

I don't know that my step-dad would have supported the details of the current health care bill. But he would not have resorted to namecalling or forwarding emails that rely on hot-button words like "socialist" and "communist" to turn an earnest debate into the sad spectacle it has become.