libraries and healthcare

Headline: “Government leaks to public that public libraries are a socialist idea. Libraries are shut down across the country!”

It sounds crazy, but is it? In today’s world in the U.S. the rich are buying books. It doesn’t matter if it is the hard copy first edition, the second edition soft-cover a few months later, or the $1.00 book at the used bookstore. The poor? Well - they are going to the library. And what about computers? The rich: they have one or two or three in their home. Or for the most frugal using the computer they use everyday at work. The poor? There is not a computer they are working on, because the work they are doing doesn’t involve a computer. And since the cost of computers is so high (even when they are priced in the low hundreds) that certainly the poor who are barely making ends meet what with paying for rent and food for the week can’t afford even the cheapest computer. So – where does someone go that can’t afford books or a computer? The library.

Books and computer may seem just like a form of entertainment, but they are as essential as food and health in today’s world. Well, at least if you want to pick yourself up by your bootstraps. (That is if you have any.) It’s hard to find jobs without the computer these days. You certainly can’t write a resume or cover letter without one. And books? Well, they are the foundation of education, of course. Enough said.

But the library doesn’t sound crazy. And giving access to free books and computers doesn’t sound socialist. Then why is it so crazy to also use public money for maybe the most basic need next to shelter and food – healthcare? Is health a right or a privilege?

As the world seeks to be more progressive and good, why then is it so far away from helping the most basic needs of the ones that can’t afford to help themselves? Would it not be more progressive and good to help instead of hinder and divide? Are we just regressing to a society of kings and serfs?