While still a Hollywood man, Ronald Reagan took
to the radio airwaves to speak out against a national health care bill, then
referred to as the Ferrand Bill and later the King Bill. Although 50 years ahead
of his time, Reagan's impassioned address warned that such a bill would not only
bring an erosion of private rights and individual freedoms but would also give
socialism and statism a "foot in the door."
In his memorable peroration, Reagan calls citizens to
direct and immediate action. It's a call as timely today as it was 50 years ago.
Otherwise, says Reagan, "One of these days you and I are going to spend our
sunset years telling our children, and our children's children, what it once was
like in America when men were free."
Radio Address on Socialized Medicine,
1961:
My name is Ronald Reagan. I have been asked to talk on
several subjects that have to do with the problems of the day. ...
Back
in 1927, an American socialist, Norman Thomas, six times candidate for president
on the Socialist Party ticket, said the American people would never vote for
socialism. But he said under the name of liberalism the American people will
adopt every fragment of the socialist program. ...
One of the traditional
methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of
medicine. It's very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian
project. Most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests
medical care for people who possibly can’t afford it.
Now, the American
people, if you put it to them about socialized medicine and gave them a chance
to choose, would unhesitatingly vote against it. We had an example of this.
Under the Truman administration, it was proposed that we have a compulsory
health insurance program for all people in the United States, and, of course,
the American people unhesitatingly rejected this.
So, with the American
people on record as not wanting socialized medicine, Congressman Ferrand
introduced the Ferrand Bill. This was the idea that all people of Social
Security age should be brought under a program of compulsory health insurance.
Now this would not only be our senior citizens, this would be the dependents and
those who are disabled, this would be young people if they are dependents of
someone eligible for Social Security.
Now, Congressman Ferrand brought
the program out on that idea of just for that group of people. But Congressman
Ferrand was subscribing to this foot-in-the-door philosophy, because, he said,
"[I]f we can only break through and get our foot inside the door, then we can
expand the program after that."
Walter Ruther said, "It's no secret that
the United Automobile Workers is officially on record as backing a program of
national health insurance.” And by national health insurance, he meant
socialized medicine for every American. Well, let's see what the socialists
themselves have to say about it.
They say, "Once the Ferrand Bill is
passed, this nation will be provided with a mechanism for socialized medicine
capable of indefinite expansion in every direction until it includes the entire
population.” Well, we can’t say we haven’t been warned. ...
It is
presented in the idea of a great emergency that millions of our senior citizens
are unable to provide needed medical care. But this ignores the fact that, in
the last decade, 127 million of our citizens in just 10 years have come under
the protection of some form of privately owned medical or hospital
insurance.
Now the advocates of this bill, when you try to oppose it,
challenge you on an emotional basis. They say, "What would you do, throw these
poor old people out to die with no medical attention?" That's ridiculous, and of
course no one's advocated it. ...
What reason could the other people
have for backing a bill which says, "We insist on compulsory health insurance
for senior citizens on the basis of age alone, regardless of whether they're
worth millions of dollars, whether they have an income, whether they're
protected by their own insurance, whether they have savings?"
I think we
can be excused for believing that, as ex-Congressman Ferrand said, this was
simply an excuse to bring about what they wanted all the time -- socialized
medicine.
James Madison in 1788, speaking to the Virginia Convention,
said: "Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more
instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent
encroachment of those in power, than by violent and sudden
usurpations."
The privacy, the care that is given to a person, the right
to chose a doctor, the right to go from one doctor to the other ... this is a
freedom that I wonder whether any of us have the right to take from any human
being. ... From here it is a short step to all the rest of socialism.
...
The Founding Fathers -- for the first time -- established the idea
that you and I had within ourselves the God-given right and ability to determine
our own destiny. ...
What can we do about this? Well, you and I can do a
great deal. We can write to our congressmen and our senators. We can say right
now that we want no further encroachment on these individual liberties and
freedoms. And at the moment, the key issue is we do not want socialized
medicine. ...
Write those letters now; call your friends and tell them
to write them. If you don't, this program I promise you will pass just as surely
as the sun will come up tomorrow, and behind it will come other federal programs
that will invade every area of freedom as we have known it in this country until
one day, as Normal Thomas said, we will awake to find that we have socialism.
And if you don’t do this, and if I don’t do it, one of these days you and I are
going to spend our sunset years telling our children, and our children's
children, what it once was like in America when men were free.
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