Wide Awake n AZ
The Fly
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2017
- Messages
- 296
The majority of people support single-payer health care. Most countries already have it. It's not a radical notion. I don't understand why I'm "Bernie Or Bust" for thinking compromise on that issue doesn't work, but I've noticed an increasing trend in Democratic circles to utterly refuse to hear criticism from the left, so I'm not surprised.
I hope I don't get like that when I get older.
You just identified an issue where I don't think there is compromise, and Obama ignored the mandate of his election and a Dem house and senate despite some crazy gerrymandering. Single Payer HAD to happen. The whole point of the mandate the people gave the Dems was to take this out of the hands of a market that was clearly price fixing and creating insane profit level on the backs of sick Americans.
But not every issue is single payer healthcare.
If you hold the executive office, you are the President for all Americans, not just your base. That's an idea that is lost on recent Presidents except for Obama, who seemed to get the idea but didn't always understand there is a difference between being a beloved leader for all Americans and leading. Sometimes, leadership means making decisions that aren't favored by all, or even the majority of people. An effective President considers the impact of policies on the entire citizenry, not just helping the rich, or busting out the rich, but that doesn't mean they should avoid difficult decisions that are not supported by the people if you believe them to be beneficial. You lead, you make those decisions, and if you vetted them, and you are proven right, when it comes time to run for election, the effect will be remembered, not the polling numbers at the time of the signing.
Barack Obama should have refused to sign a healthcare bill until it was single payer. But that does not mean he should only consider signing laws that come from the same place on the continuum as support for single payer. You demand and sign single payer because you know it is what is best, it will work, and any compromise is akin to keeping things like they are now, which is untenable.
But there are other issues that are best collectively decided, for purposes of support and staying power. Issues that don't have such a clear, notable, visible success.
Besides, we are talking about what it takes to win, not what should happen. What I think should happen is pretty far left, but it ain't my SimNation, and to get the power to enact even part of my agenda, I have to pass the test of an election.
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