US Corporate corruption militates against any true health (and financial) reform

One problem I have with this article aside from the fact that it oversimplifies the situation is that the author apparently believes the standard rhetorical flourishes that justify the US democratic system such as government of, by, and for the people etc. Yet bourgeois democracy is also designed to ensure that the government will rule in the interests of the ruling class so health care legislation that helps health care corporate interests reap profits is not a corruption of the system but the nature of the system. However, democracy does allow people to organise and put enough pressure on the government to alter the situation to some degree so as to respond to defects. Certainly, Americans want health care reform but aspects of US ideology make it difficult for protest to be effective in creating change that will do much more than end up subsidising the very corporate structures that need reforming.

Many Americans worry about the government running anything and they see government run systems as somehow enslaving them and curbing their freedom. However, this doesnt stop them from having the worlds most powerful and most expensive military to supposedly protect those freedoms all run by the government except for those exemplary private contractor crony capitalists with connections to the Pentagon. This ideology is replete with contradictions but contradictions that help corporate interests. In the medicare debate you have the spectacle of people with signs that cry out that they do not want government run health care but yet they are seniors who are worried about their Medicare coverage being cut (with good reason). Yet Medicare is a government run plan. Given attitudes such as this it is not too surprising that one ends up with a bill that subsidises private insurance and no doubt Medicare will end up being cut as well. Anyway enough of my ranting. Here is part of Joel Hirschhorn's take on the issue. His own solution is quite simple and would not run to a thousand pages!

""""Anyone smart and strong enough to fight delusional thinking and who pays attention to current events should clearly see that corporate corruption of the US political system is so pervasive and powerful that there will be no genuine reform of both the health care and financial sectors.

I always believed that president Obama was just a different color corrupt politician who was subservient to the two-party plutocracy. His so-called reform efforts and ludicrous federal deficit spending should disappoint all his non-delusional supporters.

For health reform the only genuine and sensible reform legislation should have been not much more than a single sentence mandating that every American has a right to full Medicare coverage. Period. End of story. True reform. True universal health insurance.

Let the health insurance industry sell their garbage to those choosing it over Medicare and as supplemental insurance, as is done today, to cover what Medicare does not. The one major reason why the US spends more of its wealth on health care than any other nation, but with lousy results for the population as a whole is that so many Americans and their employers buy costly private health insurance. Some things essential for human survival require government programs, like police and fire protection. The overwhelming opinion of those in Medicare is very positive. In fact it is far more positive than those using private health insurance.

But the health insurance industry and others have successfully corrupted Congress and brainwashed much of the population to fear true reforms. Sure, Congress will pass some legislation that Obama will sign and they all will claim victory. But the nation will not get true reforms and health care spending will continue to rise and bankrupt the nation.

And now we also are learning slowly that the financial sector that tanked our economy by pursuing enormously risky but profitable business practices and then was bailed out by the government has not learned any lessons. Banks and all kinds of financial companies are still pursuing risky businesses, still overpaying their top executives and still screwing consumers. Congress is unlikely to pass really tough regulations to put a halt to all the awful practices by financial companies. Why? Because Congress has been corrupted by money from this financial sector.

Make no mistake: Corporate corruption is a true bipartisan effort, perhaps the most bipartisan enterprise.

Obama is no more of a real reformer than any Republican. That so many on the far right think he is a socialist is laughable. He is nothing more than a defender of the corporate-owned two-party plutocracy. To see anything else is pure delusion. The US is being flushed away. A populist Second American Revolution is the only way to save the nation. It will not come from the efforts of anyone that is a Democrat or Republican.

Wake up America! Voting for Democrats or Republicans just perpetuates this corrupt system. They fiddled while Rome burned; we borrow while America sinks.

Contact Joel S. Hirschhorn through delusionaldemocracy.com""""