By Roger Mitchell, Stevensville
Recently, a Letter to the Editor was printed in the Bitterroot Star by numerous members of the Montana Legislature, all of them Republicans, on the issue of Medicaid expansion and why this is a bad idea.
Apparently, the authors of the article believe that Medicaid itself is good, because they state that, “Traditional Medicaid was created to lend a hand to our most vulnerable populations.” However, they argue against the “socialist expansion” of the program. Where do they draw the line? And how do they determine when we have stepped over it? And who gets to decide where the line is drawn?
What is socialism, anyway?
Socialism is the political practice of bestowing benefits on any certain class of people at the expense of everyone else. Furthermore, it is the belief that the ills of society and culture can be corrected by confiscating money and wealth from certain people and giving it to others. In this respect, every civilization in the world today is socialist because they all rely on taxation and government redistribution to create their own version of socialism.
I’d be willing to bet that the authors have their own pet projects which they would vigorously defend against attack, all the while claiming that these are NOT socialist in any way, shape, or form. The fact is that EVERY single government program which has ever been created and implemented is socialist to some degree.
The only alternative to socialism (left, right, or middle) is to leave individual people alone to live out their lives without interference. No government, no taxation, no socialism. In other words, individual liberty and freedom.
Yeah, that’s right. Just leave me alone.