You wouldn’t want a privatized interstate highway system. You’d end up with nothing but toll roads, designed to create maximum loads of constant traffic jams to maximize profit. Stopping every couple of miles to pay tolls, extra smog, noise because who would build sound walls, and stress lots of stress. It would be that way in the “RepubliCON” universe.

Is free market capitalism or laissez-faire capitalism the best form of capitalism for the citizens of a society or a nation? Does privatizing everything result in the lowest cost, the most efficient, the most fair way of doing things? Capitalism needs government, good government, fair government, equal government for all citizens and wanna be citizens. Such capitalism I call Civilism, civilistic capitalism, practical capitalism.

Governments can exist without capitalism but capitalism cannot exist without government.

Imagine a privatized Military and Armed Forces or a mercenary Police Force. No postal service to most rural areas because its not profitable or cost effective. All schools are cost based private or religious run, the legal system determined by highest bidder or no legal system, trial by biggest thug. Instead we have all the prior run bye government and more: Fire departments, Medicare for senior citizens, Social Security, and so on.

So let’s get real. And admit government is necessary even desirable and if it has problems don’t throw it away, fix it. And maybe it turns out it isn’t government that needs fixing but the “cons” who are trying to sell you something for their benefit not yours. Which brings me to the topic of this post: medical care in the US-private for profit or government run and publically financed through taxes. Which makes sense and why.

First we need to define a couple of terms. Commodity: 1. Any useful thing 2. anything bought or sold; any article of commerce. Commerce in capitalism involves free and fair competition. So a commodity is anything bought or sold in free and fair competition.

Capitalism does really well with commodities, with things like cars, or refrigerators, TVs, junk food and the like. If it’s not a commodity, if the situation isn’t competitive, capitalism doesn’t really work to best advantage instead it tends to be more costly and less beneficial for everyone involved especially in the buying end of the commerce. Take medical. When you ‘re in a car accident you go to the nearest hospital. You don’t have the time, the energy, the desire or the knowledge to make a decision: “Fly me to this hospital 300 miles away.” ” Sir, you’ll be dead by then”. Nor are many hospitals built right next to each other, where you might have a choice, assuming your accident is near where you live and you’re familiar enough with the options to make an enlightened decision. How many people make a decision about where to live based on the quality of the hospital. Schools maybe but not medical care. There’s no competition. And that’s true of medical care in general. The reason: expertise. Medical care requires expertise. It requires doctors who go to medical school and intern for years who are entitled to be reimbursed for their investment. They’re expensive. They cost money. Medical care is expensive. Not everybody can afford medical care. That’s another aspect where there’s no competition. Only the rich can afford it. Medical care is not a commodity. Capitalism doesn’t handle this in its usual obvious way. It’s expensive. Few can afford. What about the rest? How to sell medical to the masses. Capitalism offers the insurance solution. So insurance steps in. What happens? They try to force hospitals and the medical establishment to charge according to standards they set so the insurance companies can make profits. So now you’ve got an additional cost added to support: the insurance companies and their sunk costs, CEO salaries, their need for profits and dividends to keep the stock price up, etc. Hospitals respond by raising prices. Each jockeying for dominance. Costs skyrocket. And still not everyone can afford insurance so still the richer can get health care/medical care, the poorer are out of luck. Exactly what has happened in the US.

Some businesses are making huge profits: Insurance, medical equipment, hospitals, drug companies. Essentially monopolies able to set prices, using their profits to lobby congress for laws beneficial to themselves not the public. They don’t want the system to change. They spread misinformation and lies about government run alternatives and the gullible public buys it and ends up paying many times more than they should and much more than any other country in the world for health care. It’s insane.

Recognizing that health care is not a commodity and doesn’t follow traditional models of competition. That government can do a much better and less expensive alternative. In a single payer system you can get rid of these duplicate layers of costs. You don’t really need to pay the CEO of the insurance company multi million dollar bonuses. Everyone is covered through taxes which lowers the overall cost per person. And now you can force drug companies to charge what they charge the rest of the world and we don’t pay monopolistic prices.

Now yes, it’s going to cost the government to assume these costs but there are inequalities elsewhere to help bear the cost. Business will be relieved of the excess costs they have. And society as a whole will be better off financially, health wise, with less stress and a sense that things are more fair, getting better and less crazy and out of control. Civilism, Civilistic capitalism, practical capitalism.

Think about it. And elect people who feel the same way, who want real changes. Unless they wake up, forget the “RepubliCONs and Dumocrats” their time has come. Share this message.