I Live in Socialist America

I live in a country with free healthcare. It covers everything but dental, and I almost never have a copay. Urgent care visits are free. Medication is virtually free. My healthcare covers weekly therapy and has, in the past, covered group therapy, a three-month targeted treatment program with an individual specialist, and inpatient care. Sometimes it takes a while to get an appointment—the bureaucracy can be rough—but I always get seen eventually. If I got denied adequate care, you’d hear about it on the news.

I live in a country where it’s easy to get a housing loan. Banks are not allowed to charge me exorbitant interest rates: I get a locked-in rate that’s well below market price. I have to show proof of income, but I do not need a down payment or mortgage insurance. There is no minimum credit score. There is no disqualifying debt ratio. Banks have to review my entire financial situation before denying me a loan, and if they deny me for nonsense reasons there are lawyers I can call.

I live in a country where college is free for four years. Not only will my government pay my tuition for any state school, it will also give me a stipend based on my localized cost of living. In New York City, that stipend is over $3000 a month. If I want to go to a private school, the government will cut a deal with that school: the school will pay half the remaining tuition, and the government will pay the other half.

I live in a country where workplace discrimination is illegal. It is technically legal for a business to refuse service to me, but go ahead and try it. See what happens. My country won’t stand for that kind of discrimination. My identity has bipartisan support. God help you if you disrespect me on camera.

I live in a country where I can get shelter if I find myself unhoused. Like many people in your country, we received relief during the pandemic—our government provided us with housing, transportation, and phones to help us back on our feet. Here in my country, though, we are working to make those changes permanent. Even though the minority group I belong to experiences houselessness at almost twice the average rate, no one tells us to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, or that we’re lazy and should just get a job. If substance abuse is a factor, there are free programs to help us battle addiction. If we’re struggling to find employment, there are goverment-sponsored programs that will help us find a job.

As a veteran, I live in a socialist country, and I wish that you could too.

A lot of people dislike the idea that veterans live in socialism. “That’s different!” they assure me. “You earned those benefits! You served our country. You deserve it.”

I agree with that last part—I definitely deserve it. So does everyone else.

I remain unconvinced that my enlistment in the Global War on Terror, which killed as many as 3.7 million people for no discernable gain, provided more benefit for America than any part-time McDonalds employee. I was seventeen when I signed those enlistment papers, young and stupid and full to bursting with propaganda from politicians and pundits I trusted, and I think it would be pretty unfair to blame my enlistment for the harm our foreign policy has caused, but I’m not sure why it means I get better terms on a home loan either. Perhaps if I’d seen combat I’d feel differently, but let’s face it: a lot of people from my country did not see combat either, and it doesn’t change our basic human rights. As participants in the economy of the wealthiest country on the planet, we should not have to get shot at in some faraway nation for terrible reasons in order to qualify for free healthcare. We should not have to expose ourselves to toxic burn pits to gain access to an education.

You have, perhaps, heard horror stories about socialism. Maybe it makes you think of the USSR, or Venezuela, or North Korea. But functional socialism does not look like any of that. It looks like the VA. There’s no good reason you can’t have it too.

Thumbnail image by Drazen Zigic on Freepik