[WS:] I think that your argument, which I otherwise very much enjoyed, makes one important omission - the role of partisan politics and the fundamentally reactionary judiciary in the US politics, especially in defusing any public pressure on the status quo. In fact, liberal kvetching about Mr. Obama reminds me of the Kafka's character begging a gatekeeper to let him in to the law http://www.kafka-online.info/before-the-law.html .
Political parties stand to lose from allowing a more direct connection between popular interests and administration - they thrive in an environment in which every public/collective interests is carried through political parties as intermediaries instead of being written into statutory policies and carried out automatically by the administration with minimal political intervention. That is the main reason why Europe has universal government run social programs and the US does not (even social security is more like contributory social insurance than a universal welfare program.)
But even in an odd chance that a political party may move against its own interests and try to implement a far reaching social program - there is another formidable obstacle - the judicial system allowing narrow minority interest to effectively challenge and block or neutralize any government or political initiative that threaten capitalist interests.
Pursuing any universal public interest is suicidal to any politician in the US. If such a politician by some odd chance manged to overcome internal opposition from his/her own party and push such interest through legislation, that legislation would be almost certainly defeated or neutralized in courts. This as certain as death and taxes. Any politician expending his political "capital" on such ventures would face a certain defeat.
The only chance for passing the kinds of reforms that you mention in the US is the total restructuring of the party system and the judiciary - and it is unreasonable to expect this to be accomplished through ordinary politics, either liberal or conservative.
Wojtek
On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 8:18 AM, Marv Gandall <marvgandall at videotron.ca> wrote:
>
> On 2010-09-19, at 11:35 PM, Doug Henwood wrote:
>
>>
>> On Sep 19, 2010, at 6:01 PM, Marv Gandall wrote:
>>
>>> it was well within the realm of possibility for US capitalism to move towards a European/Canadian universal health care system
>>
>> Really? Can't you see what this place is like?
> =================================
> Perhaps you're right; you live in the US, after all, and I only visit.
>
> But, then again, there are many other Americans who evidently do see the reform as possible under US capitalism and have been fighting for it, and I expect a large number will continue to do so despite their failure to secure single payer or even a public option from this administration. See the listing below.
>
> I have some friends who are active in this movement. I don't at all regard them as "naive" for seeing a Democratic administration at this juncture as the ONLY vehicle through which it might be obtained. Believe me, they have no more illusions than you or I about Obama - and had none before he was elected. They were as aware as any of us on the list, perhaps even more so, about how how Obama's own political views, the constraints of his office, and the power of the private healthcare industry, would all conspire against the prospect of meaningful reform.
>
> I expect the physicians, nurses, seniors, and trade unionists with whom my friends were collaborating were not much more inclined to entrust their hopes to the campaign promises of politicians, though recognizing the need to keep encouraging and pressuring them to follow through. It would conform to my past experience up here with "mainstream" liberals and social democrats and trade unionists active in other reform movements. Unlike some of other far left friends who have tended to absent themselves from these grinding prosaic struggles, the "mainstream" folks who participate in them are less inclined to blame their defeats on the personal failings or "betrayals" of their leaders than on the power of their adversaries and the structured way in which the system thwarts change. In this sense, I think they demonstrate a greater political sophistication than those who pride themselves on their political sophistication.
>
> We also met some other people on our recent trip to the States who are active in the fight against education cutbacks and privatization. Most of the teachers and parents involved on this front are also Democrats without any particular illusions about Obama or the party leadership, but who back the party for PRACTICAL reasons as the only available means of defending their interests in the legislatures, courts, and regulatory agencies. The same holds true for the other component parts of the DP base - blacks, hispanics, feminists, gays, environmentalists, pacifists, civil libertarians, etc. - something which a signficant part of the marginalized US left refuses to accept.
>
> Organizations and Government Bodies Endorsing HR 676 / Single Payer
>
> 1. American Medical Student Association (AMSA) (link)
>
> 2. Falls City Medical Society, Kentucky
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> 3. Kentucky Psychiatric Medical Association
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> 4. Health Care for All Texas (link)
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> 5. National Health Care for the Homeless Council (link)
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> 6. Health Care for the Homeless, Inc. (link)
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> 7. American Association of Community Psychiatrists
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> 8. American Medical Women’s Association
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> 9. National Medical Association
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> 10. American Nurses Association
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> 11. American Public Health Association
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> 12. California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee
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> 13. National Association of Social Workers
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> 14. Puertorican College of Physicians and Surgeons
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> 15. American Medical Student Association — University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
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> 16. New Mexico Network of Health Professionals for a National Health Program
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> 17. CA Health Professional Student Alliance
>
> Faith Organizations
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> 1. Assembly of the Urban Caucus of the Episcopal Church
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> 2. General Board on Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church
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> 3. Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
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> 4. Church Women United
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> 5. Social Justice and Ministry Committee of Saint John the Baptist Parish, Collegeville, MN
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> 6. Unitarian Universalists Association of Congregations
>
> State Governments
>
> […]
>
> Local Governments
>
> […]
>
> Political Organizations
>
> 1. Progressive Democrats of America
>
> 2. U.S. Green Party
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> 3. Colorado Democratic Party
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> 4. Woolwich, Maine Democratic Committee
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> 5. Single-Payer Action Network (SPAN), Ohio
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> 6. Chester County Pennsylvania Democratic Committee
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> 7. Meyerland Area Democratic Club , Houston, TX
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> 8. West University Area Democrats, Houston, TX
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> 9. Democratic Party of Milwaukee County
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> 10. Skagit County Democratic Party
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> 11. Butte-Silver Bow County Democratic Central Committee, MT
>
> Civic/Community Organizations
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> 1. League of Women Voters
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> 2. Americans for Democratic Action
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> 3. US Public Interest Research Group
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> 4. OWL
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> 5. Peace, Living Wage, Universal Health Care Coalition (Wilmington, DE)
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> 6. Women’s Community Cancer Project (Cambridge, MA)
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> 7. Patriots for Change (Chagrin Falls, OH)
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> 8. Consumer Federation of America
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> 9. Consumers Union
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> 10. National Council of Senior Citizens
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> 11. National Family Farm Coalition
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> 12. The U.S. Conference of Mayors
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> 13. American Library Association
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> 14. Results
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> 15. Midcoast Health Care Reform (South Thomaston, Maine)
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> 16. City of Richmond Commission on Aging
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> 17. Human Rights Justice Forum
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> 18. Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), Cape May County, NJ Chapter #01042
>
> 19. Our Bodies, Ourselves
>
> 20. Amnesty International
>
> Labor Organizations
>
> (See link for complete listing)
>
> HR 676 has been endorsed by 508 union organizations in 49 states. Endorsers include 124 Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations and 39 state AFL-CIO’s (KY, PA, CT, OH, DE, ND, WA, SC, WY, VT, FL, WI, WV, SD, NC, MO, MN, ME, AR, MD-DC, TX, IA, AZ, TN, OR, GA, OK, KS, CO, IN, AL, CA , AK, MI, MT, NE, NY, NV & MA).
>
> The following 20 international/national unions have endorsed HR 676: USW, UAW, NEA, ILWU, NALC, IAM&AW, UA (Plumbers & Pipefitters), AFM (Musicians), UE, CNA/NNOC, SMWIA, IFPTE, OPEIU, UTU, SEIU, AFT, AFSCME, CSEA (California School Employees Association), UWUA, & CWA.
>
>
> http://www.pnhp.org/print/action/organizations-and-government-bodies-endorsing-hr-676-single-payer
>
>
>
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>