Health-care reform was the single biggest issue in the 2008 campaign. Everywhere any of the candidates went, especially town hall meetings, they were peppered with the question: "What are you going to do about the dismal state of our nation's health care system?" There weren't any 'Tea Baggers' descending on these places demanding the candidates pledge that they do nothing to change the miserable private health care system we currently have. Even John McCain and Sarah Palin had to pretend they had a plan and talked up all sorts of nice sounding "reforms," such as shopping for insurance across state lines, that would do little (if anything) to stop the insurance and pharmaceutical corporations from gaming the system. What happened that so changed the terms of the health care debate?
Adam Smith, in The Wealth of Nations, refers to capitalist business elites as "an order of men whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it."
The same type of business people Smith identified 233 years ago run our political economy today. For them the system works best when elites make the most fundamental decisions for our society, unencumbered by the trappings of "democracy", and when the population is depoliticized, misinformed, or both.
Single payer? "Off the table."
Tax the windfall profits of health insurance and drug companies? "Off the table."
Volume buy drugs to control costs? "Off the table."
Public Option? (We'll see).
The elites have spoken.
Forty years ago, the social theorist Paul Baran pointed out that contemporary capitalism's emphasis on marketing and advertising is designed "to make people want what they don't need, and not to want what they do." It's painfully obvious that we need a national health care system that provides every American with access to affordable, quality care. But with the "Running of the Tea Baggers" this August we see the power of elites to "deceive and oppress" the public, and to confuse people about what's in their best interest.
Even in times of peace and prosperity the corporate media environment produces false needs and uses corporate marketing techniques to manipulate consumers. This media environment also knows how to push all the right buttons that dwell in the hearts of "low information" citizens to allow elites to dictate national policy and to block reforms that will cut into their bottom line.
The corporate-tool-Congressman-from-Louisiana-turned-corporate-tool-lobbyist-for-Big Pharma, Billy Tauzin, cut a deal with the White House so his clients, who have gorged themselves at the public trough, cannot be charged more than the arbitrary amount of $80 billion over a ten year period because that just wouldn't be fair. And this calculation comes after George W. Bush, Thomas Scully and Tauzin himself engineered a huge giveaway of taxpayer dollars to the pharmaceutical industry with the passage of the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill.
Tom DeLay rammed it through Congress while the Bush White House lied about its true costs. Lying to Congress about the costs of a major overhaul of the nation's Medicare system might sound like an impeachable offense to some of us, but in the halcyon days when the Republicans controlled everything and had the corporate media cheerleading for them we heard nary a peep of criticism. Tauzin, Scully, and their buddies instantly became fabulously wealthy -- who wouldn't want to rake in over $2 million a year as a shill for Big Pharma?
The current state of the health care "debate" illustrates, even with the election of Barack Obama and large Democratic majorities in Congress, we might have already lost the vocabulary for collective moral discourse. Whenever someone says health care is a human right or that the federal government is capable of managing a large part of the nation's health care system (as it already does) these ideas are generally met with scorn, indifference, and an onslaught of lies.
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Most of you didn't know there was an economy problem until Sept. or Oct.
Americans don't pay attention until they are told what to do and say.
We voted for Healthcare Reform.
That was the platform of every debate and Barack had the answer We wanted.
Just because the yell and scream and have no self respect...
Maybe if they all knew what Healthcare Reform was....
Oh that's right...It
Try not to be wrong, constantly
It is hard for Obama to educate the public and counter the crazy rhetoric about death panels from the far right Fox News, Rush Limbaugh crowd. I thought much of the noise machine would fade to the background with the election of Obama, but they are screaming "socialism
Republican
Democrats develop policy, discuss options, argue over details, condemn our own who aren't true enough to our goals, own the high ground, express disgust with the crassness of the other side, can't believe how anyone with any sense could take them seriously and wait for the truth to overcome.
Guess who wins---aga
I don't need health care reform. I'm on Medicare and my pension plan pays my Kaiser Permanente premiums. Nonetheles
In the interest of avoiding total destructio
It just might serve us better to stand back and catch our breath and re-think what we’re doing. The private health insurers are probably not worth saving.
mentioned, in the MSM, but I'll couch it here.
There is @n 'element', of these people, who will not st0p.
The idea that the c0untry has a bl@ck President is s0 repugn@nt to them,
that if someone told them th@t by ki))ing their own mother,
they "could get THEIR c0untry back",
they would not just c0nsider it,...they would do it!
Whether it should be done by Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Hoyer, or some other high ranking Democrat, a very emphatic and definite line should be drawn in the dirt, regarding specious, hateful, and uncorrobor
What penalty? I have no idea, nor is it my place to suggest what might be considered
The same way you are not allowed yell fire in a crowded theater and expect protection under "Freedom of Speech", you should not be able to invoke a phrase like "Death Panel" with impunity when there is absolutely no basis in fact within the context of any legislativ
If that is too nuanced to understand
You know of whom I speak; The Rethuglica
We are being royally screwed by our financial, energy, and health care systems that appear to be colluding with the legislator
Delivering all government funded health care through government owned hospitals and clinics, operated by government employed doctors and care providers would save hundreds of billions of dollars annually.
A dual, public/pri
Independen
Going back and forth between free public care, paid for by a national sales tax, and user purchased private care, may suit some people, and it would provide unlimited choices, ultimate freedom, and always free public care would be available when it is needed or desired to everyone who asks for it, no restrictio
Businesses large and small choosing the public care option could also free themselves from all financial burdens, or any involvemen
Give us justice or there will be no peace.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquilit
I can’t think of a better example of “promoting the general welfare” than making sick people well. Looking after the welfare of the people certainly includes prevention of disease, tending to the sick, curing those with ailments.
How would it be possible to defend ourselves and secure liberty if we are all sick? What kind of justice do we have if some people are allowed health care while others are not? How can you live a tranquil life if you are racked with screaming pain and horrible disease?
We never saw these so-called "regular Americans with real concerns" during Bush's eight years of spending carnage. Alas, it takes a democrat in the White House (and a colored one at that) to get these rabble rousers fired up.