Nothing to Fear but
Unreasonable Fear Itself

by Margaret Michniewicz

During the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, I was in the midst of my anti-war letter-writing and petition-sending. Having sent out my latest impassioned plea against the impending folly to all the people in my email address book (and fully prepared that it was my “patriotism” that would be questioned), I was struck by a reply I received from the husband of one of the childhood friends in that list. Addressing my plans to attend a protest march in Washington, you could almost hear his voice quaking as he demanded to know, “didn’t I realize that I’d be marching with…socialists?!?”

Disregarding my feelings his reading an email message intended for my friend, I was amazed and amused. To me, it was as if he had anxiously inquired if I knew there would be goblins and monsters striding along next to me down Pennsylvania Avenue, with only a few leprechauns lurking on the Mall for back-up security. In my naiveté I mused, people in 21^st century America are still actually scared red?

If this summer’s town meetings on healthcare reform held throughout the country are any indication, apparently so.

As we stand with a grand view on the horizon of the next era of true progressive reform – poised to move health care from an economic privilege to a universal human right – a vocal but statistical minority is in panicked contortions over a ghost of Christmases long past.

This furor has reminded me of a very distinct memory I’ve carried with me for many years when my mother turned to me and said, “You know, your grandfather was a socialist.”

She was talking about a decorated veteran of the First World War, a man who suffered war injuries, a dedicated member of the American Legion and VFW, devout Catholic, someone who even lived through the time of the Russian Revolution… you get the picture.

I never met him – both he and my grandmother died two months prior to my arrival on the scene, within six weeks of one another. But, thanks to my mother, I will always have this context for understanding him. She explained that he was a socialist in that he believed in the power of community in a democratically-elected society to be in it together, to work for the common good. Utilities should be public! Firefighters and schoolteachers are a good thing! Social security and Medicare are kind of neat ideas! Grampy, you Radical!

These ideas aren’t scary, and the country has survived a century with them in place; single-payer health care should not be so alien a concept.

To me, what’s far more frightening is the spectre of greedy corporate ghouls gone wild – and that to attain power in this country requires being beholden to these demons.