5 ms·

I think a lot of us are sick of it (if you look at the polling for single payer, it crosses party lines in support). Unfortunately, our politicians are fairly

by diob 5y ago

I think a lot of us are sick of it (if you look at the polling for single payer, it crosses party lines in support). Unfortunately, our politicians are fairly well captured by entrenched interests.

jonathanwallace 5y ago
Politicians aren't "captured," they're "grown." Captured implies a change in behavior or an outside force acting on them, and that isn't accurate. Only politicians that fall in line are given the support necessary to succeed. To me, the term captured reduces the agency which is our responsibility to exercise as citizens (at least in the U.S. where I'm based.) /steps off soap box.
- germinalphrase 5y ago
  There is a perspective out there that says our current extremity of partisanship is actually a product of the parties themselves becoming weaker. When parties were strong, they had greater leverage over their members so the party could be whipped more effectively on compromises. Now - the efforts to reduce party influence over their members (smoke filled rooms, etc etc) has led to more and more extreme members and leadership has fewer levers to pull them towards the center.
mrguyorama 5y ago
It doesn't really cross party lines if republicans refuse to vote out politicians who don't want single payer health care.
- deregulateMed 5y ago
  Who pays the bills is not the problem in healthcare, it's a supply issue. The various medical cartels have lobbied to artificially decrease the supply of competitors, workers, and companies in the healthcare industry. Single payer healthcare doesn't magically create more physicians, hospitals, or drug companies.
  - mrguyorama 5y ago
    I don't see how what you've said is related to what I said? If republican voters aren't willing to replace their politicians with ones that are willing to vote and make a single payer solution, then they don't care about single payer healthcare that much. It has nothing to do with any specific implementation. Republican politicians have never put forward any sort of single payer healthcare implementation
    - deregulateMed 5y ago
      I don't see how medicine can cost less when the supply hasn't changed. Patents are the same. Residencies are the same. Hospitals are the same. Do you think the physician cartel is going to stop living in Mansions?

by diob 5y ago

I think a lot of us are sick of it (if you look at the polling for single payer, it crosses party lines in support). Unfortunately, our politicians are fairly well captured by entrenched interests.

jonathanwallace 5y ago

Politicians aren't "captured," they're "grown." Captured implies a change in behavior or an outside force acting on them, and that isn't accurate. Only politicians that fall in line are given the support necessary to succeed. To me, the term captured reduces the agency which is our responsibility to exercise as citizens (at least in the U.S. where I'm based.) /steps off soap box.

germinalphrase 5y ago
There is a perspective out there that says our current extremity of partisanship is actually a product of the parties themselves becoming weaker. When parties were strong, they had greater leverage over their members so the party could be whipped more effectively on compromises. Now - the efforts to reduce party influence over their members (smoke filled rooms, etc etc) has led to more and more extreme members and leadership has fewer levers to pull them towards the center.

mrguyorama 5y ago

It doesn't really cross party lines if republicans refuse to vote out politicians who don't want single payer health care.

deregulateMed 5y ago
Who pays the bills is not the problem in healthcare, it's a supply issue. The various medical cartels have lobbied to artificially decrease the supply of competitors, workers, and companies in the healthcare industry. Single payer healthcare doesn't magically create more physicians, hospitals, or drug companies.
- mrguyorama 5y ago
  I don't see how what you've said is related to what I said? If republican voters aren't willing to replace their politicians with ones that are willing to vote and make a single payer solution, then they don't care about single payer healthcare that much. It has nothing to do with any specific implementation. Republican politicians have never put forward any sort of single payer healthcare implementation
  - deregulateMed 5y ago
    I don't see how medicine can cost less when the supply hasn't changed. Patents are the same. Residencies are the same. Hospitals are the same. Do you think the physician cartel is going to stop living in Mansions?