For those of you who think I am some sort of "neo-con" schill, please realize I am a libertarian and despise being controlled by the "left's" or the "right's" nanny state plans and hate Fox News and it's Christian Right pandering. Communalism is not just about Marxist-based Communism, communalism is as old as the first tribal shamen who performed magic tricks in order to not do any work and to control other members of the tribe by tauting altruism because the unseen spirits demand it and, of course, only the religious leader and his chosen bullies are smart enough to know how to interpret these messages.
How can the U.S. perpetuate a paranoia about communalism when we are steeped waist deep in it? Most Americans love communalism. Prohibition was communalism as are, anti-porn laws, the war on drugs, sodomy/ homosexuality laws, anti-birth contol/family planning bans, anti-prostitution, anti-gambling, nudity laws, and all the other religion based moral regulations forced upon the non-religious because it is for the "public good".
I will try to clarify why communalism destroys freedom. Logically, if I am required to pay for another persons health care I have a right to make certain demands upon them in order to reduce the cost of his "free" care, hence I want to control various behaviours which will increase my costs. Do I want him visiting prostitutes, being a homosexual, or even having too many sex partners of any sex, drinking too much alcohol, using mind altering drugs, rock climbing, bungie jumping, getting tatoos, riding motorcycles without a helmet, driving without a seat belt, smoking cigarettes or using tobacco, staying out past curfue, eating too much fat?...and the list is endless but you get the point.
It is only natural that when you expect the community to care for you that you will be controlled by that community and you will answer to everyone's concerns. If you pay your own way for most things you answer to fewer people. If I want pets I can't live in a pet-free apartment because I don't want to answer to my landlord who, for good reason, does not want dog and cat damage on his property.
There is a balance somewhere as to just how responsible to the community I want to be. The problem is that for most of history the individul has been diminished and the community is over emphasized to the point of godhood. Government provided health care diminishes me and makes me more dependant upon the government and subject to more regulation and less choice.
