By Congressman Tom Cole
America is a nation set apart because of the precious freedoms that exist here. Our distinct existence was settled because of patriots who first dreamed of liberty and fought hard to secure it for future generations. Liberty remains our foundation because of generations of Americans who resolved to preserve it.
Throughout our nation’s history, America has been recognized as a land of opportunity, where success can be achieved regardless of where you’ve come from. The American dream never fails to inspire old and young alike, and I believe its promise will continue to motivate future generations to work hard and innovate. And it’s because of that underlying foundation of freedom, opportunity and the rule of law.
But freedom cannot be taken for granted. It must be preserved and protected even in a country so foundationally free as the United States. With the Democratic Party’s trending embrace of socialist proposals, there is real cause for alarm. This includes bills like Medicare for All, which would pave the way for one-size-fits-all, government-run healthcare. And coming also with an expensive price tag is the Green New Deal, which is socialism masking as environmentalism.
What exactly is socialism and why does it raise a red flag? In its early stages, socialism may not seem harmful. But in its truest form, socialism is the total relinquishment of private property to the government or the forfeiture of all or most industry to the government. Socialism has even been viewed as a stepping stone to communism.
In theory, it might seem easy to pass all the problems we face as a society to the government. This has and always will be a grave miscalculation, especially in America. The federal government lacks the administrative efficiency and incentive to innovate that is inherent in private businesses. Our forebearers trusted free people, free speech and free markets. So should we.
For example, the Democrats’ Medicare for All plan would require the government to reassign patients to doctors and take more than 150 million Americans off health care plans they enjoy, thereby eliminating personal choice and undoubtedly damaging quality of care. And there would be massive tax increases the government would impose to pay for and implement this government-run, one-size-fits-all system.
Just nine years ago, Democrats passed Obamacare, a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health care system that put the government’s fingerprints all over the industry and not for the better. Since it failed and drove up premiums just as Republicans predicted, Democrats are now doubling down as they insist that even more government is the answer to the problems caused by Obamacare. And that is because the only way a command economy can theoretically run efficiently is if it seizes control of everything and reduces people to cogs in a machine without any personal freedom whatsoever.
By contrast, free market economies provide producers and consumers with freedom of choice while simultaneously fostering innovation. Businesses have more freedom to try new things and ultimately figure out methods to cut production costs and drive down the price of goods. Competition also encourages businesses to come up with new and better products to replace the old. None of this will happen if America enacts Medicare for All.
Socialism is fundamentally un-American. The foundation of America has never stood on its government, but rather, the citizenry that makes up its institutions and its tightly-knit communities. In a socialist country, the government controls the people. But that has never – and will never – be the case in America, where the ultimate sovereign power lies with the people. As President Trump said earlier this year in his State of the Union address, “America will never be a socialist country. We were born free and we will stay free.”
