The US officially passed a threshold, but I’m not sure what to call it.
The core argument for our American way of life has been that it is always better to have private enterprise handle our needs than the government. Challenge any republican and they will say this is true.
If it is always better to have private enterprise handle our problems, challenge them on how this is true when it comes to health care? The evidence abounds that Americans are being raped by Big Pharma because we don’t exercise appropriate regulatory control of the industry on the sales end. There it’s buyer beware because of our exceedingly strong Tort laws (Which have also been eviscerated during the ongoing class war by the 1% on the rest of us.). Government isn’t bargaining with big pharma as the largest single customer, but instead the crony government is using our health care needs as a vehicle for transferring wealth from the masses to the top.
If private enterprise is to be the answer, then everyone in society must be compelled to participate in some programs such as health care, since it is a guarantee that every last one of us will need it at least once in our lives. So why do the republicans chafe at the individual mandate when it is their prerogative? Individual freedoms are more important than the survival of the country/government. And those two cannot be separated without us returning to a far more bloody existence than today, to which the middle ages will attest. For in a vacuum of government, local fiefdoms and warlords will proliferate. Then it’s might makes right. Might as well start the fight now while the chances are better since the wealthy and their puppy class of politicians are still somewhat accessible.
Short of that, perhaps a general strike on May 1 might shake things up, but without a cohesive demand, such as that everyone participate in the benefits of technology and get a living wage and a share of the burden as well as a share of the pie. Nobody should be having to work 80 hours a week and still endure poverty!