Ron Paul: Obamacare is more Fascism than Socialism
November 18, 2011 4 Comments
by Page Winfield
Washington Post
November 18, 2011
It’s doubtful whether anyone opposes President Obama’s health care law more than Ron Paul, but the Texas congressman said Wednesday that the sweeping legislation is not socialized medicine — contrary to claims made by his fellow presidential contenders Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain.
Instead, Mr. Paul called the Affordable Care Act “corporate medicine leading toward fascism,” insisting that his definition was much worse.
“It’s not socialized medicine, but it’s characteristic and creates the same things,” he said in comments before the Congressional Health Care Caucus, which invited him to speak on Capitol Hill.
“You always have shortages on socialized medicine, but you always have shortages when you have government intervention — like we do now.
“You keep the businessman involved, but the businessman makes a lot of profit and he’s in bed [with] and gets protection from the government,” said Mr. Paul, one of a handful of doctors who serve in Congress. “That’s not a very good alternative. They’re both very bad and some of the bad aspects would overlap.”
Mr. Obama had originally hoped for a universal health care system where a public option would compete with private plans on insurance exchanges, but was forced to compromise when his plan appeared politically untenable.
While the final law dramatically expands Medicaid, it still depends on Americans obtaining private insurance plans through state-based exchanges.
Nonetheless, some candidates vociferously opposed to the overhaul — namely, Mrs. Bachmann and Mr. Cain — still say it’s socialized medicine.
“In some socialized medicine countries, you can’t get a CAT scan in nine months, let alone an operation,” Mr. Cain said, speaking before the caucus two weeks ago. “We have the best health care system in the world. And … if we allow this government sponsored socialized medicine approach to prevail, we will no longer have the best health care system in the world.”
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News Desk, I’ve never talked to Dr Paul personally, probably never will. I am not a Journalist either, so by way of what you say, I am wrong for giving my opinion? You then “warn me”, because you’re a journalist, about making accusations? As I’ve said already, some comments have been censored. Of course, you may use the reason of what ever you want, as it’s your blog. Back to Dr Paul, You are incorrect to assume what you attributed to me about Dr Paul’s character. I prefer not to get into a shouting match with you, as I take it from your comment that Dr Paul’s views of “Big Brother”, as you put it, that it would be a waste of time on my part. Your defense of Dr Paul is admirable, but perhaps you should be out front that you indeed support him! I don’t know how long you’ve been a “Journalist”, nor how old you are, which really doe or doesn’t matter here in this incident!
Norman, I am not hiding from the fact that I am a Ron Paul supporter. As an average person, not a journalist, I think people would be ‘insane’ not to support him. The simple fact is that the rest of the pack have no idea or are bought and paid for by Big Corp; you know, the guys responsible for having the US, Europe and for that matter the rest of the world in the dump. I am not getting into a shouting match, I am trying to have a conversation with a reader who happens to provide me with some of his valuable time to discuss a topic. To answer a couple of your other questions, I’ve been a journalist for over 15 years. I began at the early age of 17. Finally, as I said before, please send whatever comments to whatever articles you think I censored and I’ll be happy to post them.
The idea that the “U.S. has the best health care in the World”, is open to debate. If one adds the “those who have the money to pay for it”, then perhaps there is truth in the statement. In this case, the politicians have better health care that is paid for by the taxpayer, as well as Mr Cain who can afford to buy the best on his own. As for Dr Paul, I suppose that in all his time practicing medicine, that he never once had any patient[s] that was on the Government (taxpayers) dime. The absurdity’s that the present bunch of candidates banter about, is really a mind boggling display, seemingly trying to out do each other in having the stupidest “mine is bigger than yours”.
Norman I think you never had a talk with Dr. Paul about his views on Big Brother giving and taking. Please correct me if I am wrong, but you seems to imply Ron Paul is against helping the needy and giving them healthcare when they need it. If that is the case, I urge you to research and read what he’s said in that regard. If it’s not, please elaborate. Although I do not censor anyone’s comments, as a Journalist I’d like to warn you that making accusations without having any proof of it gives a very bad impression.