Stuart Browning, one of the ideologues behind Freemarketcure.com, says in his article “Socialized Medicine is Sicko”:

“Life expectancy averages are determined by a multitude of factors such as ethnicity, culture, and crime rates. Asians live longer than whites. Whites live longer than blacks. Canada has more Asians than blacks. Infant mortality rates are likewise determined by a host of factors having nothing to do with our health care system. The chief cause of infant mortality is very low birth weight babies. The U.S., for reasons having to do with ethnicity and culture, has more low birth weight babies than Canada and other OECD countries.”

What might he mean by this? What about the ethnicity and culture of the US might contribute to low birth weight of babies? According to Browning it must be that Canada has more Asians than Blacks. And clearly, there must be a problem with the Blacks culture or ethnicity that leads to the low birth weight of babies–this is all code for “it’s the immoral and degenerate Black’s that have made our health system seems so bad.”

In a culture drowning in a deep pool of historic and current racism this line of thinking makes perfect sense. The inadequate health care for people of color in the United States is symptomatic of this racist system, and Brownings line of thinking simply confirms that.

If we start with the assumption that all people of children of God, regardless of “ethnicity or culture or crime rate.” And then move to assert that all deserve to have their basic needs met, we might not end up with socialized medicine, but we will at least acknowledge that something is horrifically wrong with the health care system in the US.

freemarketcure.com has taken the typical–and unfortunately politically persuasive route–of blaming the problems of our society on a convenient scape goat. In the above quote Browning chooses the descendants of African slaves, in his video “Two Women” he chooses a Trans-gender woman.

I don’t know the answer for the current health care crisis, but I do know that I don’t trust for those who rely on racist and hetero-sexist scapegoating to persuade me to accept their ideology.