Blade's definition of statism is accurate. However, its not even close to Totalitarism. Get the definition of Totalitarianism and you will see its a lot more controlling over the economy and peoples personal affairs.

What Blade ignores is that liberals and conservatives both use or have used statism, quite vigorously, but for different reasons. Liberals are more likely to use statism for social policy objectives, whereas conservatives use statism in to protect national economic and security interests.

However, statism is useful in making up where the market has failed. Without statism, many countries would be in an economic dumpster. Using the power of the national government, they were able to complete railway systems, highways, pipelines, resource development, to become more economically competative.

Universal healthare is not necessarily statist. If it is decentralized, makes heavy use of the private sector, and has minimal government intervention and regulation, than its not statist.

Direct provision of healthcare by the national government is statist, anything short of this is not socialized medicine.

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"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. " — John Stuart Mill