Five Ways You're Living under Socialism

 Five ways you are living under socialism.

Fire fighters:

You pay your taxes, and when a fire occurs at your house, they come and put it out. There are no charges, and they don’t send you a bill.

If the fire department were capitalist, you would have to give them your credit card or cash before they turned on the hoses.

Police:

You pay your taxes, and if someone breaks into your house you call them and they arrest the intruder. You hope. Once again there are no charges and they don’t send you a bill.

Some rich people hire their own police security people, and pay their wages and expenses. That’s capitalism, if you can afford it.

Roads and streets:

You buy gasoline and pay the tax per gallon, and then you can drive on any public road or street without having to pay tolls for the miles you drive.

Some roads and bridges are privatized and funded by paying a fee for each use. That is capitalism, not socialism, and those of us on a fixed income go out of our way to drive on other roads to avoid those fees, if possible.

Schools:

In the US grades 1-12 are socialized. You pay your taxes and your children get an education in a public school. No tuition is charged, but because we are not funding our public schools sufficiently, you might have to go to a bake sale. Amazing to me, coming from a state where fireworks are illegal, many schools here in Oklahoma fundraise by selling fireworks. I love it!

There are capitalistic private and parochial schools, which you must pay for per each child, if you can afford it. Rich kids all go to private schools, poor kids get poor schools, where there may not be much education at all. 

Retirement:

Before 1935, if you didn’t save enough for retirement, (or lost it in the stock market crash), when you got too old or sick to work, you went to the “poor farm” or moved down by the river and stole or begged for a living until you died. President Franklin Roosevelt and Frances Perkins started the Social Security Administration. It’s pure socialism - you pay your taxes all the years when you are working, and then you are payed back when you retire. 

Wall Street capitalists are not allowed to plunder the funds, and it is as safe as the US government. It keeps millions of seniors out of dire poverty, and allows most to live without having to move back in with their children.

Health care:

NOT socialism, yet. If you’re over 65 years old, there is Medicare, which covers 80%, but then if you want it all covered you must pay for private supplemental insurance policies. So everyone must pay insurance premiums, deductibles, copays, and excluded drugs, etc, at whatever cost the corporations charge. 

Hospitals, drug companies, and medical insurers all pay millions every year to buy the votes of our “representatives” to make sure the laws are not changed to allow full 100% Medicare for All. The US is the only nation where medical care is still dispensed on an extortion basis. It could be described as “Pay what we say or Die” medical care.

When I lived in Nevada, one of my maintenance drugs price rose to over $900 bucks a month. Luckily Nevada has a law that allows people to order drugs from Canada, which has socialized, regulated medical care. I was able to import my particular drug for $135 dollars. 

Then I moved to Oklahoma. When I tried to order more of my drug, Canada informed me that Oklahoma has a law prohibiting any drug imports from Canada, under the penalties for drug trafficking. 

So far, without my immunosuppressant drug, I am in remission. Hoping it stays that way.

I enjoy the balmy weather in Oklahoma. I wish Canada weren’t so damn cold!