ObamaCare: Will the Past be a Guide to the Future?

They say “Those who fail to remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” So . . . Let’s take a very broad look at the past, making a comparison of two major events in US history: 1. World War II and 2. the Implementation of Socialized Medicine in the US:


• From December 7, 1941 to May 8, 1945 is 3 years, 5 months, & 1 day

• From March 21, 2010 to October1, 2013 is 3 years, 6 months, &10 days




This means that the amount of time from the day we were attacked at Pearl Harbor until the day Germany surrendered was not enough for the current Federal Government to build a working web page. 
During that former period we accomplished – successfully – the following:

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Mobilization of millions of personnel including specialized training while housing, feeding and clothing them, arming them, organizing them, transporting them overseas, and bringing them back or shipping (many of) the dead's bodies back;   Designing and building tens of thousands of tanks, jeeps, fighter planes and bombers, transporting them overseas, and continually re-supplying this armament with ammunition and spare parts also shipped overseas;      Ditto for the re-building of virtually our entire decimated Navy including submarines,  cruisers,  aircraft carriers, destroyers, torpedos, depth charges, ammunition, etc.; developing new inventions such as radar, getting all the bugs out of it, miniaturizing it and installing reliable equipment on thousands of ships and planes;  producing and shipping overseas military and massive other aid to our European allies throughout most of the war; turning the tide in North Africa, invading Europe from Britain on D-Day (the most massive military operation in human history), the Battle of the Bulge, the Race to Berlin;  arranging for medical treatment for HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of wounded and funerals for HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dead Americans;  developing the theory, building, and using the atomic bomb for the first time in human history, based on a totally new and previously untested fundamental theory of the nature of matter and energy; and all done AT THE SAME TIME that a similar effort was underway in order to fight the Japanese in the Pacific, 10,000 miles away from the European theater !!! AND, WE WON A WORLD WAR, BY FAR THE MOST MASSIVE MILITARY UNDERTAKNG IN ALL HUMAN HISTORY!!

 The amount of time spent to accomplish “all of the above” (and more) was insufficient for the current Federal Government to build a working webpage.***   

 HOWEVER . . . 

 To be fair and even-handed, I should state my firm belief (based on other historical facts, current facts, and logical reasoning) that the new health care system is ultimately destined to surpass, in one crucial respect, the performance and level of accomplishment exhibited during the previous era: On some distant future day when its website is finally up & running and the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented, I will give odds on a bet that within the FIRST decade of its operation, there will be at least one consecutive period of 3 years, 5 months, and 1 day during which the new health care system will prove its ability (through the use of its efficient, “cost-effective” accounting protocols) to kill MORE THAN TWICE as many Americans as were killed in combat (291,557) by WWII.  

Would anyone care to take the other side of that bet? ***The author, not wishing to take any undeserved credit, would like to point out that the basic idea of comparing the duration of these two historic events was not his own, but originated in an anonymous email which had been forwarded several times. The presentation of that idea has been substantially modified and the details substantially elaborated upon by the author to produce this short article. The idea of carrying the comparison into the future is entirely the author’s.