Double Standard Thought Experiment: Torture vs. Universal Health Care

[BurtWorm]

Imagine a Democrat elected to the White House in 2008. Do you think said Dem would raise the possibility of creating a guarantee for everyone in the US of health care as needed, to be paid for by a single payer, i.e., the US government? Neither do I. These "fringe" ideas of the Democratic party are left for low-level back benchers to suggest, and only when it's clear there's no chance in hell of them ever being taken seriously by anyone outside the fringe.

On the other hand, whom does the GOP entrust its insane fringe ideas, like torture, to? The Vice "president" and even the "president!" They're quite free to breathe public pronouncements about the need to torture "enemy combatants." Do the media laugh these insane fringe ideas off the center stage of public discourse? Of course not! Why not? Because the v"p" and "p" have legitimized them! It's now, therefore, totally acceptable to take this insanity seriously.

Would universal health care become acceptable discussion material if the next Dem president dares to push hard for it in public?

Why do I doubt it? Is it because Dem ideas really are beyond the pale of what can be considered in the US? Or is it because the Republicans now so totally control the discourse because they have tamed the media?

[Nitrogenica]

1. Which would you vote for, given the choice?

Vote for money for torture spending (a medium amount of money for immorality), or money for universal health care (a large sum for morality)?

Our choice is obvious. So is theirs.

[leftstreet]

2. The country is ready for single payer national health care

I don't understand why the business community (excepting insurance and big pharma) isn't behind a drive for gov health care. They keep whining about the cost of doing biz in the US.

[nannah]

3. I agree

It boggles the mind that we are one of the only industrialized countries without universal health care access. and as the main post notes, no plans or questions are even asked for the purpose of gathering public support. Like you, I think the country is ready and even eager for a way of setting up single payer health care. In fact, I think candidates who ran on that promise would be very electable.