I spent time going through websites sponsored by people who oppose President Obama’s attempts to introduce a more equitable health-care system into the United States.
The most extreme arguments come from people who believe that under socialized medicine, bureaucrats would decide which older people would live or die. When Americans argue with each other, they argue from the extreme ends of the political system. They seem unable to meet in the middle.
Some negative arguments make sense. Canadians realize socialized medicine has drawbacks. On the other hand, many of us know that under an American pay-as-you-go system, we would likely have died two or three illnesses back.
Back when my employers frequently sent me to the United States on assignments, I took a university course in American political studies. As a requirement, I wrote an essay that compared the Canadian government prior to confederation with the early U.S. system. I noted they had an elected legislature as we did. They had an elected president; we had an appointed Governor General. In each case, the leaders selected cabinets as they saw fit, rarely from elected members of a legislature.
The only real difference: they elected their president. However, as time progressed and we became a confederation, things changed. The administrative authority moved from our Governor General to a cabinet drawn from elected representatives and led by a prime minister. I argued that the U.S. system had not changed in over 200 years, while ours continued to develop. I even had the audacity to say that Americans appear unable to change. My big mistake: I forgot the professor was an American. He never countered my arguments, just blasted me for questioning their system.
I still believe that Americans cannot or will not change in most areas of life. As an example, think of the metric system. The Americans cling to an ancient system of measurement while the rest of the world has metricated. True, some Canadians still weigh themselves down with pounds and ounces.
A major difference between Americans and Canadians grows out of the founding of our two countries. Americans bought their “freedom” from the mother country at the point of a gun. Canadians negotiated change. Today, Americans still try to purchase “freedom” for peoples of other countries with guns. Canadians lean toward peacekeeping and negotiation, although in recent years some of us have got caught up in an outdated American approach.
Now the differences show up in health care. Most Americans believe individuals must accept the responsibility and pay for themselves. Canadians lean toward the concept that we should be “our brother’s keeper.” Americans argue “all men are born equal.” Canadians know better and realize people die because of inequality. We do not have a perfect system; but because we believe in change, it continues to improve.
I’m not sure the U.S. will ever get a better system. Some have already suggested reverting to that age-old tradition of shooting the president to stop change. As we encourage them to improve their health care, let’s stay out of the line of fire.