So, it appears that the political Right is in a tizzy this morning about this Rasmussen poll. Apparently it shows that Americans overwhelmingly oppose Obamacare, and independents oppose it by a 3-1 margin. Or something. One problem*: whatever problems I may have with Obamacare (and I’ve made clear that I’ve got a lot), it is definitively not a single payer plan, which is not even remotely on the table at the moment.
Yeah, I know, slippery slopes and all of that – but this would just seem to be proof that the slope will not, in fact, slip. Which is pretty much exactly why I’m opposed to Obamacare – our existing system is bad enough as it is; that it doubles down on the combination that ensures our system represents the worst of socialism and capitalism with relatively few of the benefits of either is reason enough to oppose it without demagoging it as something that it is not. If there was a likelihood that the slope towards single-payer would, in fact, slip, I might even have a lot fewer problems with the legislation since at least then we would get some of the benefits of more socialized health care, which is more than I can say about the existing system. Of course, I’d vastly prefer something that removed existing market distortions, but I’m not so naive as to think that this is going to happen anytime soon.
*Another problem of course is that it’s Rasmussen, but that’s not going to make that much of a difference to the point.
