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.

Yeah, the idea that Americans have generally been pragmatic is belied by our really poor healthcare outcomes combined with high costs, and many other policy anomalies compared to other developed nations: incarceration, college debt, infrastructure

RIght. We are more of a "cut your own nose off to spite your face" sort of country. Or, we have become like poor whites in the antebellum South, thinking it is more impt to have some ppl worse off than you than to be better off at the bottom.

One of my least fave things about economics is that we obsess over absolute wealth when, at a surprisingly low point, what matters to most ppl is relative positioning to others to most ppl. Relative positioning explains a lot about our fucked up society.