Why Socialism Does Not Work.

Bear with me. You may not at first identify this as a problem of socialism. 

I got a phone call from the school on Friday that Gideon had collided with a child and he had a profusely bleeding bloody nose. I needed to come and get him. I agreed to come and get him but explained to the office secretary that he commonly had bloody noses that were very scary and not to worry.

His nose was very bloody, but I have probably seen worse. Recognizing that it is not reasonable for him to be sent home every time he had a bloody nose, I set about this morning to collect the necessary paperwork to allow him to keep a little kit of supplies at school to help him handle his bloody nose. 

Ideally he needs a plastic bag with a few rags, q-tips, some sort of moisturizer gel, and maybe a saline wash. Ideally this needs to be done in the bathroom hanging over a sink to minimize the blood splatter on clothing. Gideon “nose” how to do this. (Sorry I could not stop myself). He does not even wake me up at night anymore if his nose bleeds. He gets his own towel (usually a nice white one) and hangs over the sink until it stops bleeding. He has been doing his own saline rinses for the past two years and every child knows how to stick a q-tip up their nose. 

I stopped by the office this morning to get the form. The office secretary recommendation is that she keep the medication because if it was in his bag he might “show it to someone” or “squirt himself in the eye”. Okay- that could happen. Although I have found that children with chronic problems are generally more responsible with their medication because they have to be. I take the form home and read it over.

The forms refers to the “medication” and that the only "the dose listed on the instructions can be used." Well... last time I checked, Vaseline had no dosage listed, nor does a Q-tip box include instructions on how to stick one up a nose. It is frustrating. I have not decided how I will deal with this, although in the end, I will probably have to make a special plan with the school for dealing with my son's benign nose bleeds. 

Now to the socialist aspect.  A public school is a socialist entity by nature. Laws abound to make education “fair” to all the attend the school, but nonetheless, it is the schools goal to create a collective environment. All children need to be treated the same in order to make the system work. To keep all the children safe, the child with chapped lips cannot bring chapstick (without a doctors note) because he might share chapstick and spread a cold sore. I am sure you have heard of the laws now protecting asthmatics. Schools do not like children with asthma to carry their inhaler in their pockets. They may sell it or share it with others. So rather than teach children not to take others medication (and God forbid, let children bear the consequences of sharing medication) they try to make it a rule that a child cannot carry an inhaler. This does not work well because some people have bad enough asthma that they need an inhaler NOW! when they have an asthma attack. Some kids got very sick from this and they had to change the laws to allow kids to carry an inhaler with them. Colorado has this law. I actually keep asthma medication at Gideon's school but I did not have him self administer because I know that he needs help with it. I also know that he does not need help with a bloody nose. See how that works? As an individual, I am able to make decision based on my child's needs. I only had to take into account what I know about my child. It does not matter is Johnny has been using his inhaler unattended since he was three or that Mary would eat the tube of Vaseline if she had it in her backpack. I need only know what my child is capable of doing.

The socialist entity “the school” cannot function that way. All decisions are made while trying the take every member into account. But it cannot serve all of its members well because of that. The individual does not function this way. I evaluate what Gideon needs, and only what he needs. I do not take into account the medical needs of other asthmatics/ bloody nosed kids, their mothers do.

Ultimately I understand that this issue of the bloody noses does not matter too much. I am a SAHM, I can deal with them as they come. But I invite you to look at this microcosm example of 400 kids in a school and the handling of individual needs and expand it to millions of Americans and socialized medicine. 

Socialized medicine will encompass the needs of the “normal” .What are you going to do if you and your family do not fall under “normal” . Do you think that the government is going to violate protocol for you? Or do you think that you are going to be looking at a form like the one that I have in my hand? The form that does not even apply to the circumstances that I am dealing with BUT it is the ONLY form. 

Some of you may find this selfish; it is really not. I want to make decisions for my kid/ my family. I want you to be able to do the same. To return to back to my original analogy of the school system- I do not think that I know what is best for the other kids at Gideons school. If a child has special needs, I want his mother to make able to make a plan outside of the norm for her child as well. 

I will be honest. I hate it that people suffer because they cannot afford health insurance. I hate it that insurance companies refuse to insure the very people who need it the most. I wish that socialized medicine could work. But when I honestly evaluate our government I know that the government run health care is going to make people suffer. 

Someone please correct me if I am wrong, the public school system is our country's longest running socialized program, and it is full of problems. But parents can opt out. The new healthcare plan is going to effect everyone, and there will not be a way to opt out. Think of that in November. 

Is it reasonable to think that our government is going to run more efficiently/ more fairly the more complicated it gets?