from Mary Schumacher, one of my favorite posters at tabletalk:
To add a point to a previous discussion, those things a society seeks to "socialize" are things that, when broadly applied, provide VALUE for the entire community, beyond just the benefit they provide for individuals. More value than they can provide if access to them is limited, most especially by large numbers of people in the community's ability to pay (their real costs). Some examples are; education, defense, transportation infra-structure, utilities, public parks and recreation areas, sanitation, etc.
The point of socializing such things isn't just moral -- it is practical. Sane societies recognize that collective well-being may require taking collective responsibility for the things that are basic to maintaining a workable and prosperous community. And sane societies also recognize that while the free market can provide a wide variety of things, it cannot provide anything to everyone universally. It can, for example, provide both a Four Seasons and a Wendy's, but it can't provide access to both to everyone. So in instances where universal or near universal access to something -- like education -- greatly increases the benefit to the society at large -- that is makes the entire society richer -- the best approach is one where the community tries to guarantee access for everyone -- including those who can't afford such access entirely on their own.
Additionally, programs like Social Security, regulated financial markets, etc., minimize general, basic economic risks of one type and therefore maximize every individual's ability to indulge in other kinds of economic risk taking -- much of which adds to economic growth and provides an overall economic benefit.
Societies that forget or fail to acknowledge these basic, pragmatic facts from irrational fear of the word "socialism" or irrational expectations of the free market are doomed to be -- as a society -- poorer for it.
The argument for universal health care is also an economic and pragmatic argument, not just a moral one. A healthier society is likely to also be a richer one.
It is not mere coincidence that in some (Scandinavian) countries where both health care and child care are now universally available, poverty itself has been wiped out.
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