The new health care bill seems Marxist. How, you say? Well, it redistributes wealth, and redistributing wealth is the cornerstone of communism. 

Karl Marx (19th century German father of communism and economic philosopher who wrote mainly from London) coined the famous slogan “from each according to ability, to each according to need.” This meant redistribution of wealth from the haves to the have nots. See “Communist Manifesto,” Karl Marx, 1848. 

Marx wrote “communism may be summed up (as) ‘abolition of private property.’” And if you think of your money as your private property (and it is), redistributing it amounts to taking it (some would say “stealing” it). Taking some of your property is a step towards taking it all. So hopefully we can all agree that redistributing wealth is communist, or at least communist-like, or “communistic.”

Redistributing wealth is what Obama care does. The new bill redistributes wealth in the following five ways.

First, by preventing health insurance companies from denying a preexisting condition, this puts us all in the same insurance pool. And, because, healthy people can’t separate out and form separate pools for cheap insurance (also meaning there’s less incentive to be healthy), this redistributes wealth from the healthy to the unhealthy. 

Second, by capping how much more insurance firms can charge older people (who obviously cost more for health care), and setting a price control on age-based pricing, this transfers wealth from the young to the old. 

Third, Obama care is a transfer of wealth from young males to young females, since the healthiest and least doctor-visiting segment of the population is young males. And now that we have the forced collectivization of health insurance, young males can’t separate out for cheaper insurance. 

Fourth, by preventing insurance companies from denying coverage to kids with preexisting conditions (on their parent’s health plan), it transfers wealth from the childless to parents. 

Fifth, the tax on the wealthy in this health care bill is classic “progressive taxation,” plank No. 2 of the Communist Manifesto (plank No. 1 being the abolition of private property).

This kind of pitting groups against each other, and group redistribution, is wrong. Rob rich Paul to pay poor Peter, or his group; that’s textbook communism, my friends. This is the forced collectivization that is Obama care. Join the collective and have your wealth redistributed, or IRS agents will hunt you down. 

Sounds at least a little communist, don’t you think? So let’s settle on the word “communistic,” shall we?

Jeff E. Jared is an attorney and political writer in Kirkland.