Nazism and socialized medicine ~ By Joseph Farah

From WorldNetDaily

By Joseph Farah Posted: October 05, 2009 ~ 1:00 am Eastern © 2009 Don't you dare point out in polite company that socialized medicine in Germany provided the mechanism for the Holocaust. Don't do it. Even though it's undeniably true from a historical standpoint, Barack Obama, the Democratic Party and their accomplices in the Big Media will vilify you, ridicule you and accuse you of minimizing the tragedy of the Holocaust. But I don't really care if they play that card with me. They've already played the race card. They've already played the Nazi card. They've already played the "extremist" card. Consider me inoculated from the venomous poison of these vipers. Here are the facts you should know before accepting a nationalized health-care system that will place in the hands of government the very keys to your life and liberty. Adolf Hitler didn't launch national socialist health care in Germany. It began in the latter part of the 19th century under Otto von Bismarck, ironically as part of his "anti-socialist" legislation. Bismarck, like many of today's U.S. politicians, believed introducing a form of what I call "socialism lite" would stave off he more virulent forms of the disease. The Weimar Republic that preceded the Nazi takeover had already witnessed the transformation of the German health-care system from one focused on individual practitioners and individual patients to one more concerned with general public health. Prevention became the watchword. Doctors became more like state functionaries concerned with the nation's general health that individuals accountable to patients for health care. When a worldwide economic crisis hit in 1929, government expenditures for health care were slashed as were those for public housing, welfare payments and creation programs. The government health-care system began to apply cost-efficiency calculations to medical treatments. The first victims of were those considered weak and "unproductive" to the interests of the state. The eugenicist ideas of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, a hero of today's collectivists promoting socialized medicine, were studied and adopted by the Germans. Charles Darwin's notions about "survival of the fittest" were applied to social engineering policies. Before Hitler ever came to power, Germans were already euthanizing or sterilizing large numbers of the mentally ill and the mentally retarded. [CLICK HERE TO READ MORE]