The Downside of Socialism

Bernie Sanders’ campaign fires up memories of living under socialism, which I did for eight years in my 20s.

Socialism had points good and bad — like any system. On the good side, we received many benefits, oh boy. Dollars from the government for kids, free health care, food made cheap by subsidies, low-cost mortgages, and virtually free universities. All subsidized by government. 

But we paid a price for this. We paid heavy taxes — really heavy taxes. If we were ambitious and worked harder, we paid even heavier taxes. For instance, if we worked two jobs we had to hide our second job. Otherwise, the government confiscated most of that second income. It penalized us for ambition.

Maggie Thatcher said socialism is a great system until you run out of other people’s money. The country where I lived ran out of other people’s money. So, it turned capitalist and free market. It broke up monopolies run by many government companies. It sold those companies to the public — issued shares. It even privatized the post office. Since then, that post office has made hundreds of millions. It no longer sucks up taxpayer money every year. It now pays taxes to government.

I understand why some people love Bernie’s socialism, I do. If you don’t want to have to work too hard, socialism may appeal to you. Perhaps you want government to take over some of your responsibilities. Then you will like socialism. Maybe you don’t mind that various services get delivered poorly like the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Then there is my experience with government-run health care — socialized medicine. On the plus side, we faced no cost to have our first baby. Two weeks in a maternity hospital for my wife. Ah, but the baby was sick. The medicos did not discuss much with us. They rushed the baby to another hospital.

For weeks, I appeared at the new hospital. Nurses told me the baby was under observation. Could I speak with a doctor? No. Could I discuss possible diagnoses? No. Could we look at different options? No. 

In reality, the government doctors had taken possession of our baby. They made all decisions — without consulting us, the parents. The attitude was that they knew best. And besides, they controlled all the medicine in the country. So they would deal with us at their convenience. And there was nowhere else we could turn.

When I insisted, one doctor took five minutes from his rounds to chat with me in a hallway — about our infant, who might be dying. How nice of him. To him we were a number, baby included.

Was it good medicine? Perhaps excellent medicine. And it was “free.” Was it humane? You be the judge. Again, it was like the treatment you get in some DMV offices.

Here is a more common complaint with socialized medicine. I was diagnosed with a sinus condition. The doctor put me on the list for surgery.

I waited seven years. That’s right, seven years for surgery to stop a recurring infection.

Finally, the day came to meet the government surgeon. I happened to have a terrible flu. But I dragged my sick and aching body to his clinic — because if I missed that appointment I might still be on his list today.

The surgeon checked me out. “You smoke,” he said. I did. “Then I don’t want to waste government’s money on you. I won’t do the surgery,” he proclaimed. 

And that was that. I had no recourse. I had waited seven years for a government doctor to spit in my face.

So Bernie, I hear you rave about free this and free that from government. I know how nice it was to get all that free stuff when I was young and living under socialism. 

But I also know we paid a price. And the price was not always calculated in money. 

Surprise: there was no free lunch, nor is there one today.

From Tom ... as in Morgan.            

Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home near Oneonta, in addition to his radio shows. Contact him at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com