>However, there is also something to be learned from it, namely how to
>successfully implement a government program - by coupling it with the
>interests of a broad segments of the population so they see themselves as
>beneficiaries - even if that is largely illusory. The problem with most
>left-sponsored programs (except social security!) is that they are
>ostensibly designed to help only the "less fortunate" or other narrowly
>defined interests, which creates what the economist Burton Weisbrod called
>the "median voter" rebellion - i.e. a situation when most voters object to
>using their tax dollars to fund special interests.
That's the beauty of single-payer healthcare: it's universal. And it's related to why unions are nowhere near as popular as they should be: they're perceived, not incorrectly, as more interested in their narrow self-interest than in promoting a broad program that would benefit nearly everyone.
Doug