Best of Week: Gender

                This week in class we discussed the relationship between gender and sex and the differences between them.
                At first I assumed gender and sex were the same thing. Once we looked at the definitions of both words I began to see the significant differences between gender and sex. Sex is more biological; the way you were born. Gender seems to correlate to how one socially defines themselves and how others see them. Basically, if my sex is male but if for some reason I felt I really should be a women I could simply dress like a women and thus redefine my gender in the social stratosphere; yet my sex would still remain the same as I would medically still be a man no matter how much surgery I receive. Gender can change; sex cannot.
                Now that you understand my stance on gender vs. sex I begin my larger point; what defines ones gender excluding the physical differences? What makes a man a man and a woman a woman? The answer I believe is quite complex but could be addressed simply by stating; society sets the standards for peoples gender identities. What I mean by this is that we as a society set standards for common normalcies in our attitudes and behaviors. We then raise new generations according to this standard.
                But how does society set a model for each gender? Do our natural instincts define gender or does society and our interactions shape our gender? I believe we may have been influenced by our natural instincts before but now we as a human race have gone beyond what is natural and created our own standards and instincts. Similar to how we no longer act animalistic; we no longer let nature define us and give us gender specific roles. We as a society have decided the traits for each gender. 

What if?: We had the German Healthcare System

                Here in the United States we have a large problem with socialism. Also, we as a nation believe that we have a free market capitalist economy. However, I have a problem with these two statements. First, we simply do not have a free market economy due to our government regulation and socialist policies such as Social Security and Medicare. But we are far from Socialist; our government does not own any major industries. Additionally, businesses still operate freely and with the market choosing price for most goods and services. Secondly, I agree that Socialism is not a good system due to the inefficiencies it would bring into our market. The only problem I have is that in a free market economy, which most economists will tell you is the most efficient system, the government is not there to protect its citizens. In free market, there is no line between efficiency and human rights such as using child labor but in our country we have laws against that to protect people’s health. I feel having a “socialized medicine” system is no more socialist than we already are.

                Now that I cleared up the common misconceptions with our economy I will begin to discuss my main focus of this post. T.R. Reid’s Healing of America caused me to think about which system has the best fit for this country. Prior to reading the book, I read a few articles on our healthcare system and discovered the huge flaws it possessed. I am ardent supporter of Obama so I already had a general knowledge of what Obamacare encompassed. As I read through the book and we discussed it in class, I came to the conclusion that Obamacare has not really done enough for this country.

                Looking at the other systems I noticed that there was only one system that would really work here in the United States which would be the German system. My most favored part of the German system is much of the system was still private and that some people could opt to have for-profit-insurance. This approach to the system is very capitalistic compared to even the French and Japanese systems. The German system still allows competition between insurance companies and the care facilities even though the insurance policies have more government regulation. Their healthcare system was not even any less capitalistic than our nation. They have less restriction on the insurance companies by allowing more insurance providers to be available thus decreasing costs through competition. Furthermore, the German system allows the wealthy to buy more coverage and seek private care which is highly capitalistic. They also do not have rationed healthcare which completely contradicts the mindset of our great nation.

                I also believe that this system would not be that significant of a transition for this country. Obamacare is a huge step in the direction towards the German system. There are a few stages we have left to complete the transition which requires a more liberal government in power. This coming presidential election decides whether or not we make this change. If Obama loses re-election all this progress towards socialized medicine would have been for nothing due to Romney’s promise to repeal Obamacare on his first day of office. Understanding the importance of this election has actually caused me to become more politically active this year and follow the election intently.