What part of left don't you understand?

One of my fav bloggers and humorists, Scott Adams (the Dilbert guy - in case you don't immediately recall the name), posted this yesterday. (You might want to go over to his post and read it first, to get the context to this post.) Scott has his own unique style and his own unique and special way of making his point. I respect his work immensely and sometimes try to emulate his writing style. I really liked what he had to say in this post, especially about 'confusopolies'. Of course, the debate on healthcare is pretty intense in the US, and for all the right reasons. It is a serious issue and Scott's approach, while in an only slightly lighter vein, accords due gravitas to it. His last para opens with the line "Before you call me a socialist, I don't have an informed opinion on national healthcare" and that somehow to me was like waving a red flag (pun intended) to a bull. Especially after having watched the run-up to the Obama election closely last year, and having winced every time I heard the word 'socialist' being hurled at him like an abuse.

And so I could not help commenting (to Scott):

Your "Before you call me a socialist ...." had me wondering why socialism, in America, is dreaded more than leprosy. Are socialists lepers?

In Indian politics, which is multi-partisan, we have a left, a right and a center (speaking in very broad terms). The bi-partisan US polity only has a right and a center. Well - some call it a left sometimes, but it is really a center. Why don't you have a 'real' left? Or does the concept of freedom have an exception (as in "embrace any ideology you like as long as it is not socialist")? I ask, with much interest, as a curious external observer.

Over the last 12 hours several readers have commented on Scott's original post - and the intense debate on healthcare nationalisation versus privatisation continues in its unabated fury. I scanned over 4 pages of reader comments this morning to check if there was any response to my comment, in particular. The only response I saw was:

@hyperactivex

What? The US has no real left? The US has ONLY left. We have a broken system that provides 2 parties. The parties of far left, and center left.
The US is supposed to be a republic (states rights), which is right of center. A good percentage of people in the US mistakenly think we are a democracy (center). While others want to push us toward socialism (way left)

Our founders created a republic for a reason. Less government, more freedom/liberty. More government brings less freedom.

So, since socialism is complete government control, it goes against everything this country was founded on. The founders viewed socialism as a fate worse than death. To quote John Henry, "Give me libery, or give me death"

So this is the view from the inside. OK. Sorry I asked!

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