2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Do you buy into the single payer fantasy of Sanders? [View all]BlueMTexpat
(15,368 posts)as you did, that they do not want to do anything.
The ultimate ideal, IMO, is indeed single payer. I am a Hillary supporter and, yes, I say that.
But I am enough of a realist to know that the USA was not able to enact single payer in the immediate post-WWII years - when liberal ideas and Keynesian economics were the fashion (e.g., the UK's NHS and France's healthcare system, which built on earlier ideals of the French Revolution). It also took until 1966 in a comparatively progressive political environment even to enact Medicare - after bitter opposition. Today's environment is simply not anywhere near as progressive and, sadly, that is the truth.
So when any candidate - especially one who so far has had very little support in endorsements from Dem lawmakers in Congress - proposes to implement "single payer" and omits a lot of necessary details about how that will happen, I see that very much as a fantasy. No President can implement anything without strong support. Even if our President has overwhelming Dem support, Dems are still not a majority in Congress and thus cannot enact anything by themselves.
I simply do not believe that GOPers in Congress will suddenly turn into progressives overnight because Bernie - or ANY Dem candidate - has made them see the light. Look at what ALL their candidates are saying.
Hell, GOPers oppose Obamacare with every breath they take and Obamacare basically follows what they themselves wanted some years back.