well first of all Philbert, it was discussed in detail in REPUBLICAN strategist David Frum's book. The first for-profit insurance company was Kaiser which happened under Nixon. There are recordings of Nixon discussing it and saying he liked the sound of it.
Secondly, in the 1950s and 1960s the price of gas, hotel rates, eggs, milk were all regulated. Gold was illegal to own. Your telephone was rented to you by the ONE phone company. Electricity was government owned and not for profit as it is today. Ever get a choice in who your electric company is? Well they run ads where I live all the time as if you do. Who pays for those ads?????? hmmmm and what is the purpose of an ad for a company you have no choice but to pay????
health care was for profit but prices were heavily regulated. the top income tax rate was 91% from 1948 until the mid 60s. So this fantasy that the 50s and 60s were a utopia of freedoms and smal government are just that, one big make believe fantasy. In the 1950s and 1960s we had the #1 health care system in the world, now we're ranked #37. Hospitals employed more people than all of industry and it was a thriving business, even with price regulations that limited how much could be charged. 1 in 6 Americans received in patient care every year. Today that number is 1 in 27 and nursing and doctors are in short supply. Read David Frum's book he worked for Reagan and has said that the tea party and the religious right is the worst thing to happen to the republican party in it's history. He addressed this myth that the 1950s and 1960s were what the tea party makes it out to be. Let's not forget the lack of rights for blacks, women, gays and the handicapped.
This was written by David Frum:
"The United States did not vote for socialism. It could not do so, because neither party offers socialism. Both parties champion a free enterprise economy cushioned by a certain amount of social insurance. The Democrats (mostly) want more social insurance; the Republicans want less. National politics is a contest to move the line of scrimmage, in a game where there's no such thing as a forward pass, only a straight charge ahead at the defensive line. To gain three yards is a big play.
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Whatever you think of the Obama record, it's worth keeping in mind that by any measure, free enterprise has been winning the game for a long, long time to this point.
Compare the United States of 2012 with the United States of 1962. Leave aside the obvious points about segregation and discrimination, and look only at the economy.
In 1962, the government regulated the price and route of every airplane, every freight train, every truck and every merchant ship in the United States. The government regulated the price of natural gas. It regulated the interest on every checking account and the commission on every purchase or sale of stock. Owning a gold bar was a serious crime that could be prosecuted under the Trading with the Enemy Act. The top rate of income tax was 91%.
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It was illegal to own a telephone. Phones had to be rented from the giant government-regulated monopoly that controlled all telecommunications in the United States. All young men were subject to the military draft and could escape only if they entered a government-approved graduate course of study. The great concern of students of American society -- of liberals such as David Riesman, of conservatives such as Russell Kirk and of radicals such as Dwight Macdonald -- was the country's stultifying, crushing conformity.
Even if you look only at the experiences of white heterosexual men, the United States of 2012 is a freer country in almost every way than the United States of 1962.
Obama has changes in mind that conservatives and Republicans will oppose. He will want to raise taxes; he will want to sustain social spending at a permanently higher level; he has in mind new regulations over health care, energy production and banking. He'll win some; he'll lose some. To the extent that his wins prove injurious, future Republican Congresses and administrations will struggle to undo them. That's politics: a contest that never ends and in which the only certainty is the certainty of constant change.
The Republican challenge next is to reassemble a new coalition for limited government and private enterprise. That coalition must include Americans of all ethnicities. To assume from the start that only certain ethnicities will contribute, and that others aspire only to grab, is not only ugly prejudice; it is also self-destructive delusion."
he says very clearly with facts to back it up that a white man in today's America is far more free than a white man in 1962. here is the article that backs what I'm saying up:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/12/opinion/frum-conservatives-despair
here are some things written by a life long high profile Republican that are worth the read:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/11/11/how-the-republicans-got-stuck-in-the-past.html
you want a link?
http://www.ssa.gov/history/pdf/HealthCareEarly1960s.pdf
