"Socialized" Health Care versus Socialist Health Care

8/24/2009 | Self

[angkor]

I'm not sure that I've ever posted a chat/vanity, so here goes:

I've seen a lot of news articles and posts recently that refer to "socialized" health care.

Maybe I've been missing something, but I don't recall hearing this term "socialized" (anything) used too often before. In fact I don't recall hearing the term "socialized" used in any other context except maybe for pet animals.

"Socialized" health care? What's that mean?

It means nothing, it's an MSM term used to obscure reality. And the reality is that our Socialist President and our Socialist U.S. Congress and their MSM enablers are tying badly to mask the essence of their proposal, which is of course Socialism.

So, it might be useful for all of us do a quick and easy course correction with our terminology, in order to more accurately describe "health care reform."

Here's my fix of a headline from a recent FR post:

Russian Doctor Reviles Socialized Socialist Medicine.

There. Doesn't that make more sense? Isn't it markedly superior and more accurate?

I hope everyone will take a moment to make this important correction wherever you see it on FR.

Words have meaning.

Thank you.

[angkor]

Socialist health care reform, not "socialized" health care reform.

[VRWCmember]

“Socialized” Medicine, or “Socialized” Health Care, or other such terminology has been in common usage to refer to publicly funded medical insurance or treatment for at least three decades.

Whether or not changing the word from “socialized” to “socialist” would make the term more linguistically accurate could be a subject of interesting discussion and debate, but it is largely irrelevant.

[angkor]

I confess I haven’t following this issue for “three decades” or even three months, but it seems somewhat more than “irrelevant” to call it what it is.

I’m curious why you would think otherwise.

[VRWCmember]

I’m curious why you would think otherwise.

Because when a term is in such common usage for that length of time, getting hung up over semantics and the use of the word socialist vs socialized is counter-productive. I would bet that if you were to review Ronald Reagan's speeches on the issue of private versus nationalized medical insurance you would find he used the term "socialized medicine" to refer to the idea of national/socialist health care for the simple reason that it was the conventional, established, common usage term for such a program.

[angkor]

Yes, you’re correct, Reagan did use the term “socialized medicine”.

And for the sake of accuracy, in this 1961 speech, he opened by equating “socialized medicine” to socialism, and continued to the end with that theme:

Now back in 1927 an American socialist, Norman Thomas, six times candidate for president on the Socialist Party ticket, said the American people would never vote for socialism. But he said under the name of liberalism the American people would adopt every fragment of the socialist program....

{snip]

One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine.

[snip]

Now let us see what the socialist themselves have to say about it.

{snip]

From here it is a short step to all the rest of socialism.

[angkor]

Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRdLpem-AAs

[MozarkDawg]

If you wish to be more precise in your terminology, you would not use socialist (noun) but socialistic (adjective), as a socialist is one who advocates socialism or is a member (capital S) of the party.

My dictionary defines socialized thus:

so·cial·ize (sō'shə-līz')
v. so·cial·ized, so·cial·iz·ing, so·cial·iz·es
v. tr.

1. To place under government or group ownership or control.

Socialized medicine is the proper form, not socialist(ic) medicine.

[VRWCmember]

And for the sake of accuracy, in this 1961 speech, he opened by equating “socialized medicine” to socialism, and continued to the end with that theme:

And that is my point: "socialized medicine" equals socialism in health care. Therefore, since the term means socialism, quibbling over which word to use contributes nothing to the debate.

[angkor]

Well, I think you're completely missing the point (aka "the forest for the trees"), but I'll play along for a moment.

Merriam-Webster says:

* Main Entry: so·cial·ize
* Pronunciation: \ˈsō-shə-ˌlīz\
* Function: verb
* Inflected Form(s): so·cial·ized; so·cial·iz·ing
* Date: 1810

transitive verb

1 : to make social; especially : to fit or train for a social environment

2 a : to constitute on a socialistic basis b : to adapt to social needs or uses

3 : to organize group participation in intransitive verb

So, to "socialize" is indeed and as I stated, to make your dog suitable for a walk in the crowded public park, but as you said can also act as a synonym for "socialistic", which as illustrated above is a maneuver to take over an industry and "adapt [it] to social needs and uses."

So I think it's fair to say that "socialistic health care" is probably the more accurate term.

But since I am back in the forest and not counting trees, I think that "socialist health care" works just fine.

[angkor]

>>> Therefore, since the term means socialism, quibbling over which word to use contributes nothing to the debate. <<<<

I’m not quibbling.

Use whatever the heck you want.

I’ll call it “socialist health care.”

[VRWCmember]

I’m not quibbling.
Use whatever the heck you want.
I’ll call it “socialist health care.”

Fair enough. I'm not the one who posted a vanity thread with the whole point of arguing that it should be called

Socialist health care reform, not "socialized" health care reform.

[angkor]

Isn’t that the whole point of vanities in the Chat/General category?

;-)