j.r. leonard

They are called wedge issues for a reason. It would be better if politics had less salience to ppl's everyday lives, but that is hard to do as ppl become aware of massive differences in equity and as we need public action around things like climate change.

Also, this is all premised on a false choice. A proper HC system would improve health outcomes broadly and lower total costs. Some ppl who want to pay for insurance would be required to, but we pay for things we don't want all the time in any society.

We’re not talking about wedge issues. On matters of policy, as opposed to the ideological stuff, Americans have generally been pragmatic. If a big gov’t solution gives them the outcome they want, they’ll support it. If a market based solution does, they’ll support that

And I don’t know what false choice you’re taking about. The conversation started because I said that voters weren’t just going to reward Dems for the ACA just because Dem partisans think it the morally right thing to do

I don't agree with your model of the American voter. They don't know what works or doesn't unless there is a huge failure like the recession or the Iraq war. There is a huge negativity bias where they hate the most recent winning party.

Also, the system isn't even set up to be representative of the voters, or to accomplish anything. The system serves the purposes of the already well off, and if you can't accomplish much, you can't really make it clear to ppl what has helped or not.

Can't forget path dependence, where people are afraid of change. Most American voter (or human) simultaneously hates the current state of everything and is terrified of change.

They also hate hard choices. If you look at public referendums, the desire is typically for "higher spending" and "lower taxes" which is not a coherent policy (with some exceptions).