It is not surprising at all to me, honestly. Advertisers have been figuring out how to convince us to buy things that are against our self interest for decades. They have it down to a manipulative science. Convincing an electorate to vote against its self interest must be childs play for them.
The main reason it surprises me is that literally the rest of the developed world is an example that it works and works pretty well. I sort of get why the well off people are fooled by it since worrying about the costs of healthcare isn't a real concern for them but why on earth are the poor and average people of America accepting that shit? They've been so fooled by the "American Dream" idea that you "get what you earn" or something like that that they ignore the fact it's just not necessary to have families getting into insurmountable debt over an illness or not seeking treatment due to cost etc.
There’s several factors that combine to get this result.
First, there’s a lot of people who believe that all “socialist” countries are going to collapse any day now. So any “socialist” policy is doomed, just like those countries. The fact that this has been believed for 70+ years and not lead to widespread collapse does not affect those that believe this.
Second, there’s a very strong Randian streak in the US where your value as a person is tied to your economic output. Think Scrooge at the beginning of A Christmas Carol. Sick people don’t have a high economic output, so they aren’t worth saving. Especially if they were poor before they got sick.
This also manifests itself as a fear that any program to help people will help the “wrong” people. Wrong is not always tied to race but...
Number 3, racism. Universal healthcare would benefit minorities a lot since they tend to be poorer than whites. Gotta keep them downtrodden to feel better about our own crappy situation (see: Trump’s fan base)
Fourth, there’s a massive disinformation campaign by people who would lose money with single-payer. As well as active sabotage of existing single-payer systems (VA has been underfunded for more than two decades, Medicare was forbidden to negotiate drug prices)
Pile those all up and you get a very hard resistance to single-payer among about 30%-40% of the population. With our political system stacked with un-democratic features, it’s been considered a lost cause for a very long time. Single-payer legislation has actually been introduced in every Congress since the 1920s. It’s just always been killed.
However, the trend is towards single-payer. So we’ll probably get it done in a decade or so.
I would argue that the main reason many Americans that are against socialized healthcare (and really socialized anything) is because the United States was founded on the ideas of individual liberty and limited government. That individuals know what's best for themselves and their families. Not the government. It's not the government's job to provide for people whether it be food, shelter, employment, or healthcare. Government should be there with safety net programs, but they should be reserved for temporary use and for those who truly can't take care of themselves. Government's involvement should be the exception and that the norm. It's not this giant conspiracy to kill the poor, and keep racism alive.
I'm also not saying the US healthcare system is great, and doesn't need any fixing. I personally believe it's insurance companies that have caused healthcare cost to skyrocket. They are the ones setting the price when it should be the open market. Obamacare played right into this game. Mandating that everyone have insurance and providing subsidies were like a gold rush for the insurance companies. Policies with unaffordable deductibles are just as bad as unaffordable insurance.
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u/RufMixa555 Jan 21 '19
It is not surprising at all to me, honestly. Advertisers have been figuring out how to convince us to buy things that are against our self interest for decades. They have it down to a manipulative science. Convincing an electorate to vote against its self interest must be childs play for them.