Today Obama has to convince people in his country to adopt some kind of Public Health option for those who are most vulnerable, most disadvantaged in society. It seems to attack a basic premise prevalent in America (and to a certain extent here too) that you must never offer too great an incentive to people who are in a position of disadvantage to remain in that state. An essential founding tenet of the The American Dream is that you have chosen to be there to better yourself.
Whilst to a certain extent this is understandable, it has created a number of dynamics. It amounts to a kind of social 'darwin-ism'. It has allowed big business to come into that space and commodify health. That does not seem entirely right to me. Here we have a culture which has allowed itself to drift into strange paradoxes. For example the State vehemently upholds the right of a person to own and carry a gun (the ultimate symbol of personal power and self determination) and yet holds good health as a privilege to be attained only by those who can afford it.
That is a culture which would appear to despise weakness and celebrate power. It is not a very compassionate position to hold.
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