I just came across an audio file of Reagan (while he was a private citizen, before the presidency) speaking against socialized medicine. In just ten minutes he shows the true question behind socialized medicine. It's not "do you have compassion on those less fortunate than yourself?" but "do you value freedom?" Reagan asks you to look at what would happen if your own job became socialized. You would no longer have the freedom to choose where you would want to live. This and other details of your life would be dictated by your employer: the state.
He makes the point that our own American Revolution is distinct from any other revolution in history. In our revolution, we were not exchanging one set of oppressors for another. We affirmed the freedom God gave to each and every person.
What's amazing to me is that this recording is from 1961. The more I hear about the 60's, the more parallels I see between that time and my own time. After reading Goldwater's Conscience of a Conservative and hearing Reagan's clip, I strongly believe that Biblical Christians need to gather these types of materials, study them, understand how they relate to today's issues, and pass on their wisdom! We speak to our own times, but we can learn from those who successfully combated the false ideas of their time. This is even simpler when we're speaking to the same issue!
It cracks me up that socialized medicine is supposedly a grand and brand-spanking new idea. Hold it: it's neither grand nor new!
But it's not just enough for you and me to realize that truth. We've got to communicate that idea to others.
As the president of Wheaton college has said, the goal of education is eloquent wisdom. Our country has a rich heritage of wise men, and we can learn from their eloquent wisdom.
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