j.r. leonard

Even their cynical vote was in service of their moral agenda.

Even business ppl who vote to protect their income/wealth do it bc they believe it is morally correct that they hold onto it. Most moral statements from most ppl represent "I like" or "I want" and aren't based on a Kantian or utilitarian analysis of right or wrong.

More fundamentally, if the Ds are the party of "redistribution" or "communal action," I don't understand how you say to ppl "your taxes are going to go up to help others" without a moral valence. HC, which can be an "almost everyone wins" scenario is weirdly a exception.

I think his interpretation of raising taxes to help others is what he calls “moralizing”

Except that’s not what happened. The ACA just shifted costs from one group of middle class people to another, while maintaining the cartels that make the most from our healthcare system. If that’s your litmus test for a moral stance, then your ethics needs work

In what fashion could we possibly have gotten rid of private insurance? I don’t see how it would have been possible unless very different people were in very specific senate seats.

You keep asking me about what “we could have gotten” and that has nothing to do with what I’m talking about

Well you’re the one saying we should have eleminated “cartels.” Do you actually think that was possible in 2009? It was your proposal not mine.