How about we talk about what the radical American Left can do on the issue of health care reform.
We should remember that even small reforms don't usually happen without some kind of radical actions happening that make the refroms more palatable to the people in power. Perhaps universal health care isn't a reality because the radical left hasn't organized direct action campaigns and protests on this issue. We haven't organized something radical and unpalatable to the people in power.
For example, the anti-globalization movement really didn't take off until it had a more radical wing, which made things like Seattle and Quebec City happen. Some of the smarter people in the NGOs understood that they needed the radicals around in order to make their policy alternatives more appealing to institutions like the World Bank and IMF. Speaking as one radical, I was conscious of this throughout our organizing, which is why I was working closely with NGOs and the black bloc (which is a tactic, not an organization, but you get my gist).
There was alot of footsie happening between the radicals and the NGOs.
That's one reason why "diversity of tactics" came about. ;-)
Predictably, the sight of riots on North American streets and the momentum behind debt reduction and debt forgiveness scared the bejesus out of the World Bank and similar institutions. The NGOs became more palatable.
The World Bank became a "poverty reduction" organization. LOL.
So what can the radical left do on healthcare to move the goalposts and make universal health care palatable to the powerful?
Because Michael Moore is obviously hinting at this, if Sicko mentions that European governments are afraid of their people.
What can we do to make the U.S. government afraid of us?
Chuck