-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
The Marine Hospital Service was an organization of hospitals dedicated to the care of ill and disabled seamen in the U.S. Merchant Marine, U.S. Coast Guard, and others. The Service was created by an act of the 5th Congress and signed into law on 16 July 1798 by President John Adams. The Marine Hospital Service was the point of origin for the Public Health Service.
The government funded the hospitals by a tax on sailors’ monthly wages.
Socialized medicine and mandatory health insurance in 1798.
The merchant seamen were essential to the early economy, and their job was dangerous. Realizing a healthy workforce was essential for our private merchant fleet to engage in foreign trade, the Congress acted. They created “An Act for The Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen”.
There are some differences between then and now. The act did not mandate that sailors obtain any form of private insurance. It was a federal government run health insurance program, a public-option for sailors. The private insurance companies in 1798 hadn’t discovered lobbyists, that would come later.
H/T: Common-Place, Greg Sargent, Forbes.
Got news for you Germany was a socialist state with some capitalism prior to the first world war. And Germany under the Nazis was a socialist state, a socialist dictatorship to be exact.
No, reading it as I do is cause to be a law abiding citizen and not expect from my fellow citizens that which is not mine to take. Nor to expect the government to take it from me looter boy.
Now why dont you run along over to the CPUSA website, you have much more in common with them than I have with anyone at Nickelodeon.
You are a true predator, your willingness to take from people using the force of government to do it is proof positive. Enjoy your loot, looter boy. Got to take from those that have because you cant get it any other way.
yeesh when will you go get a job and quit sucking on your neighbor’s teat for your sustenance?
BIL, you beat around the bush so much, you scoundrel. Why don’t you say what you REALLY mean. Heh!
BTW, those are my sentiments completely
“nope, they were all started by socialist/collectivist states.”
Really? I suppose that kind of distortion is par for the course from a history department in a school that encourages their “poli sci” majors (that is what you are this week, isn’t it?) to make up terms to suit their premises. The two world wars? The first was triggered by a long string of abuses committed in the name of imperialist expansionism by the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Russian Empire, the British Empire, France, and Italy. The second was triggered by an expansionist fascist military dictatorship engaged in racially motivated genocide. So peddle your revisionism where people haven’t actually read history.
And the way you read English? Negates the English language. No. I’ve read the Constitution appropriately as a social compact that is reciprocal, unlike your “reading” of it which is as a license to lie, cheat and steal as long as it’s personally profitable.
Seriously, you’re just flailing now.
You should run along and go blog with people more commensurate to your actual knowledge and skill. But be careful over at Nickelodeon. The moderators might think you’re some kind of predator.
“1. Exemption from misfortune, sickness, calamity or evil; the enjoyment of health and the common blessings of life; prosperity; happiness; applied to persons.”
Why the old dictionary makes an even stronger case for socialized single-payer health insurance than the contemporary (which does just fine in itself)!
wrong again. it doesnt say society is responsible for my health or blessings.
The way you read it negates the Constitution, I guess that private law school education wasn’t for shit or maybe you just aren’t able to understand. Maybe your memory is extremely good but you just cant properly integrate the stored concretes into abstractions?
“All that suffering couldn’t’t possibly be directly related to myopic greed and bigotry and exclusionary religions . . . except for all the wars started for myopic greed and bigotry and exclusionary religions.”
nope, they were all started by socialist/collectivist states. Sorry to disappoint.
Awwww.
Isn’t that cute! I’ve struck a nerve. Also, thanks for furthering my contention despite your attempts at self-rationalizing distortion. It’s always funny when a clown falls off a unicycle.
You’ve proven the words still mean the same thing.
Specifically welfare.
“1. Exemption from misfortune, sickness, calamity or evil; the enjoyment of health and the common blessings of life; prosperity; happiness; applied to persons.”
Why the old dictionary makes an even stronger case for socialized single-payer health insurance than the contemporary (which does just fine in itself)!
“Call me greedy because that is exactly what I am.”
Oh, I have and I will continue to do so . . . especially since you’ve admitted it.
“I have a right to my own life, I don’t owe you or people like you anything but the acknowledgement that you are human.”
But you do owe society fair and equitable contributions for its maintenance and betterment as the society for which you claim no responsibility is giving you the very opportunity to express your greed – just not at the expense of society as a whole. As to the composition of society? Sorry! You don’t get to determine who is part of society and who isn’t. Society is a team sport and the team is defined by citizenship, not your caprice. By the way, sociopaths acknowledge other people are human – they just don’t care about them.
Thus once again proving you are a simply a greedy lil’ sociopath . . . like all corporatist lackey apologists.
As to who made misery on the human race in the 20th Century? Yeah. Seeking to make the world better FOR ALL while maintaining the values of democracy is the greatest cause of misery in the 20th Century. All that suffering couldn’t possibly be directly related to myopic greed and bigotry and exclusionary religions . . . except for all the wars started for myopic greed and bigotry and exclusionary religions.
Game. Set. Match.
Never bring a unicycle to an Indy car race, sport.
from Webster’s 1828 dictionary:
PROMO’TE, v.t. [L. promotus, promoveo, to move forward; pro and moveo, to move.]
1. To forward; to advance; to contribute to the growth, enlargement or excellence of any thing valuable, or to the increase of any thing evil; as, to promote learning, knowledge, virtue or religion; to promote the interest of commerce or agriculture; to promote the arts; to promote civilization or refinement; to promote the propagation of the gospel; to promote vice and disorder.
2. To excite; as, to promote mutiny.
3. To exalt; to elevate; to raise; to prefer in rank or honor.
I will promote thee to very great honors. Num.22.
Exalt her, and she shall promote thee. Prov.4.
WELFARE, n. [well and fare, a good faring; G.]
1. Exemption from misfortune, sickness, calamity or evil; the enjoyment of health and the common blessings of life; prosperity; happiness; applied to persons.
2. Exemption from any unusual evil or calamity; the enjoyment of peace and prosperity, or the ordinary blessings of society and civil government; applied to states.
GEN’ERAL, a. [L. generalis, from genus, a kind.]
1. Properly, relating to a whole genus or kind; and hence, relating to a whole class or order. Thus we speak of a general law of the animal or vegetable economy. This word, though from genus, kind, is used to express whatever is common to an order, class, kind, sort or species, or to any company or association of individuals.
2. Comprehending many species or individuals; not special or particular; as, it is not logical to draw a general inference or conclusion from a particular fact.
3. Lax in signification; not restrained or limited to a particular import; not specific; as a loose and general expression.
4. Public; common; relating to or comprehending the whole community; as the general interest or safety of a nation.
5. Common to many or the greatest number; as a general opinion; a general custom.
6. Not directed to a single object.
If the same thing be peculiarly evil, that general aversion will be turned into a particular hatred against it.
7. Having a relation to all; common to the whole. Adam, our general sire.
8. Extensive, though not universal; common; usual.
This word is prefixed or annexed to words, to express the extent of their application. Thus a general assembly is an assembly of a whole body, in fact or by representation. In Scotland, it is the whole church convened by its representatives. In America, a legislature is sometimes called a general assembly.
In logic, a general term is a term which is the sign of a general idea.
An attorney general, and a solicitor general, is an officer who conducts suits and prosecutions for the king or for a nation or state, and whose authority is general in the state or kingdom.
A vicar general has authority as vicar or substitute over a whole territory or jurisdiction.
An adjutant general assists the general of an army, distributes orders, receives returns, &c.
The word general thus annexed to a name of office, denotes chief or superior; as a commissary general, quarter-master general.
In the line, a general officer is one who commands an army, a division or a brigade.
GEN’ERAL, n. The whole; the total; that which comprehends all or the chief part; opposed to particular.
In particulars our knowledge begins, and so spreads itself by degrees to generals.
A history painter paints man in general.
1. In general, in the main; for the most part; not always or universally.
I have shown that he excels, in general,under each of these heads.
2. The chief commander of an army. But to distinguish this officer from other generals, he is often called general in chief. The officer second in rank is called lieutenant general.
3. The commander of a division of an army or militia, usually called a major general.
4. The commander of a brigade, called a brigadier general.
5. A particular beat of drum or march, being that which, in the morning, gives notice for the infantry to be in readiness to march.
6. The chief of an order of monks, or of all the houses or congregations established under the same rule.
7. The public; the interest of the whole; the vulgar. [Not in use.]
Ok looter boy. Looks to me like “promote the general welfare” means to form a society in which people are able to increase their station in life. The operative word being “their” not your station in life. If promote the general welfare means socialized medicine and a chicken in every pot then the Constitution means nothing. There would be no individual rights worth protecting in that case. The fundamental right being the right to your own life and the labor therefrom.
Call me greedy because that is exactly what I am. I have a right to my own life, I don’t owe you or people like you anything but the acknowledgement that you are human, but in your case just barely and only because you have self awareness. Other than that your posts here have shown me you are nothing but a brute who would relish the use of force to take from one to give to another.
You are the quintessential leather jacketed, hob nail jackbooted thug that made misery on the human race in the 20th century.
I notice you didn’t bitch about FDIC there, Chan.
Socialized programs to protect your money are just fine, but the ones to protect public health aren’t, are they, greed boy?
“‘“promote the general welfare’ meant a profoundly different thing in the 1780′s than it does today.”
Uh, no. It means exactly the same thing.
promote \prə-ˈmōt\, v.,
2a : to contribute to the growth or prosperity of : further (promote international understanding)
the \thē\, definite article
1a —used as a function word to indicate that a following noun or noun equivalent is definite or has been previously specified by context or by circumstance
general \ˈjen-rəl, ˈje-nə-\
1: involving, applicable to, or affecting the whole
2: involving, relating to, or applicable to every member of a class, kind, or group (the general equation of a straight line)
3: not confined by specialization or careful limitation
4: belonging to the common nature of a group of like individuals : generic
5a : applicable to or characteristic of the majority of individuals involved : prevalent b : concerned or dealing with universal rather than particular aspects
6: relating to, determined by, or concerned with main elements rather than limited details
welfare \ˈwel-ˌfer\, n.,
1: the state of doing well especially in respect to good fortune, happiness, well-being, or prosperity
2a : aid in the form of money or necessities for those in need b : an agency or program through which such aid is distributed
Put them altogether and you get the sentence fragment “promote the general welfare” which means contributing to the growth or prosperity of every member of a class, kind, or group (in this case all citizens of the United States) in the form of aid which includes money or necessities for those in need. In short, promoting the general welfare means helping to better the quality of life for ALL Americans, not just the profit seekers – a concept inconceivable to venal lil’ sociopaths and apparently the English department of Hillsdale Clown College.
As to your childish “show it to me in the Constitution” bleating? As already demonstrated, the Constitution is not an all inclusive document, but a delimiting document. The powers to tax and spend are covered as are the basic functions of government and are well backed by precedent. That you disagree about what the money is spent upon based on simple greed and narrow perceptions of self-interest is merely a further indication of your character defect and the extent to which you’ll self-rationalize to justify it.
You should be more careful riding your unicycle.
Having only one wheel, it is inherently unstable.
But it looks good on you though.
And rather appropriate that a one-trick pony rides a one-wheeled conveyance.
Tootie:
you might like this quote, based on it someone we know is not an honest person:
“”But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What strength do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it? Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is made–before it can be looted or mooched–made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he can’t consume more than he has produced.'”
Tootie:
good post. I want them to show me that part of the Constitution as well.
Personally I don’t think Social Security or Medicare are Constitutionally sound programs.
“promote the general welfare” meant a profoundly different thing in the 1780’s than it does today.
It is funny to see the only argument they can put forward is greedy corporations. What else do you expect from the “Looter Class” though?
What BIL said. I endorse this message.
Tootie, all I have to say is, “Bless your heart.”
Tootles,
You were much more amusing when you stuck to just misinterpreting the Bible.
The function of the Constitution is spelled out in the Preamble.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
“THERE IS NO SUCH GRANT OF POWER TO PROVIDE MEDICAL CARE TO EVERY TOM, DICK, AND MARY in America who was never in the military.”
There is also no prohibition on it either nor is it reserved to the states.
Oops.
As to the necessity and propriety of providing single payer state run health insurance? Read the Preamble again. Providing for posterity (in the form of healthy children) and promoting the general welfare (by securing health care for everyone instead of protecting for-profit insurance company profits) is an appropriate tax dollar expenditure. It would be no more illegal than Social Security (which is state run not-for-profit insurance), Medicare (which is state run not-for-profit insurance), Medicaid (which is state run not-for-profit insurance), the Federal National Flood Insurance Program (which is state run not-for-profit insurance), and FDIC (which is – you guessed it – state run not-for-profit insurance).
The only lies here are the ones you keep swallowing and regurgitating, Tootles. Lies that help only one group of people. The owners and shareholders of for-profit insurance companies.
So tell us, Tootles. Why are you protecting the profits of people who would cut you off of life support or expensive drugs if it meant they could have another multi-million dollar spa junket? Why are you for privatized death panels? Because that’s what a for-profit insurance company is: a private company that can deny you coverage based solely upon profitability.
And speaking of drugs, I hear lithium is really cheap.
You should look into it.
The Marine Hospital Service is not socialism. Nor is it Medicare.
And most of the comments above are balderdash based on ignorance.
The Merchant Marines were called upon to protect Americans during time of war or danger (there was a tiny Navy at the time). The government, Constitutionally, including through letters of marque and reprisal, lawfully could assign private citizens to rescue ships and persons from foreign hostiles, including during war. The Merchant Marines were of this ilk.
Joe Blow down the street who never joined the military is NOT to benefit from this power. Neither am I. We are not in the military.
The federal congress is granted specifically the power to raise armies/Navy, etc. and fully fund all pertinent necessities there to (including caring for those who suffered from this service as permitted by the necessary and proper clause). Congress is authorized to determine this and has as demonstrated by the hospital and our veterans services.
THERE IS NO SUCH GRANT OF POWER TO PROVIDE MEDICAL CARE TO EVERY TOM, DICK, AND MARY in America who was never in the military.
And if you say so: PROVE IT TO ME FROM THE TEXT OF THE CONSTITUTION. Please.
This authorized taxation that funds the hospital arises DIRECTLY from a whole slew of enumerated powers given to congress in Article One Section Eight:
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
Since FDR, the Democrats have been lying to the public about the Constitution and what it means regarding these “social” issues.
The lies continue apace from the highest powers that be.
The photo in the postcard in your article is of the military hospital here in Louisville, KY. For the past several years there have been slow efforts made to restore the hospital to it’s original condition. It can be seen from the interstate highway near the Ohio River on the way to New Albany, IN.
It’s amazing what reading the history of one’s nation can reveal … education is the key to all this tom-foolery that has such a grip on the right.
Great job Nal. I saw this article and I was “shocked” that a Medicare type system was actually approved of by our Founders! The facts are a funny thing aren’t they?
This was the foundation for the civilian US Public Health Service, which still uses Navy ranks and uniforms, as well as the DoD health care system for its commissioned corps.
Socialized Medicine…a tax on wages….damn….to take care of there own….what a hell of a concept….
Great aspect nal…..the Drum…..
Thanks, Nal!
“The private insurance companies in 1798 hadn’t discovered lobbyists, that would come later.”
LOL!!!