Democratic control and the implications for healthcare?
924416
It is difficult to gage what the Dems will do.  They ran the show in Congress for 30 years prior to 1994.  When  Republicans have attempted to address problems with National Heathcare, the Dems have filibustered the bills.  I don't believe enough people are aware that the United States and the States combined Healthcare budgets are a larger amount per capita than many fully socialized Countries.  Many Pharma companies are concerned about the United States seizing control of their pricing authority because several Nations use our pricing in their equation.  Canada pays the average price between the U.S. (highest) and Italy (lowest).  I believe there is a place for the Government to negotiate pricing for those on Public assistance, but I think the real culprits are countries who leverage their prices against us, thus shifting the burden on this country.  (i.e. I need to make 2 cents on a cup of lemonade, Giovanni will only pay 1 cent, so I have to charge Joe 3 cents)    If the U.S. approaches the problem by trying to limit the return on investment to Pharma Co.s, then their stockholders will flee with their money and leave little for investment.  This was the problem during the "Dot Com" boom, where the failure was that the President appointed FEC Chairman didn't investigate these hollow companies, and allowed them to lure away and squander investment dollars.  Many of the scandals we now know of were attempts to keep the investors happy, but it was impossible for real companies to compete with fake ones.  Pharma stocks plummeted, and with a new President's FEC Chairman, many are now going to jail.  If we wrongly target Pharma as the problem, they will be forced to do "creative bookkeeping" just to keep investors interested, just like the real companies all did in the "Dot Com" thing.
844720
I thought the disease was wealth by greed .... and does ignorance breed rapacity ? those are the diseases to me.No \nonly free thinking and the return of the vote can help.\npeace out!
125849
More democratic?  I don't know what you mean.  The only think I can think of is the end of slavery.
1031074
All American states are democratic. Some have democratically elected Republican leaders and others have democratically elected Democrat leaders.
818353
uh...democracy's side
1184473
It depends on the type of democracy. It appears that we are under a representative democracy. This means that we elect representatives based on their credentials to make decisions for us. If we want those elected to listen to us we need to shift towards direct or deliberative democracy in which the elected official is accountable to those who elected them.
875846
Voting strictly along party lines is not democracy, it is a threat to democracy.\n\nThe voters need to take control of the House and Senate from the political parties.  The parties make deals in exchange for donations to the national party.  These donation are then distributed to loyal members or new candidates in races that may be vital.  In exchange for these funds the candidates are expected to be loyal to the party line and vote to pay back the corporations, special interests and lobbyists that made the original donations.\n\nSo in effect the two party system has allowed the people we elect to represent us in congress to be hijacked by the party to serve the will of the corporations and special interests that donate to the party.
709949
I'm certainly open to exploring the idea, especially the healthcare side of it. America has become close-minded and slow to evolve compared to Europe, Canada and Australia. If we think our form of government is the best there'll ever be and never strive for more ... well then, we'll just flounder and implode like every other empire.\n\nPeople hear the word "communism" and they think it's a religion or form of government. Noooo, it's an economic system, and if they'd actually READ something like Marx and Engel's "Communist Manifesto," they'd have a clue what said gentlemen had in mind. It may not have worked in practice, but there are IDEAS there of significant value, and we can't write them all off just because they're associated with something other than capitalism.\n\nMcCarthy is dead; move on.
771970
No, not as long as we are using Diebold voting machines.  (Diebold gives money to Republicans).  Democracy is dead.  Wake up and smell the coffee of the kingdom of George W. Bush...and his gay, merry, pranksters.
951186
You make a very good point.  They have created such a mess:  the war, the deficit, the alienation of the US from the rest of the world...  It won't be easy to clean up and the right-wing spin doctors will be creating controversy and undermining every honest effort the Democrats make.  Maybe the right-wing has learned a lesson but I seriously doubt it.
1078804
Nothing is free.  Nothing.  And trying to make Healthcare "free" would be catastrophic.  Free Healthcare is not vital...it's not proven to work...and it's not all candy canes and lollipops as you claim it to be.  I know people in countries that have free, universal healthcare.  They don't get near the quality that American's get, and their systems are shakier than John Kerry's political stances.\n\nEDIT:  Please don't run from the facts.  It's not my job to pay for someone else's healthcare.  Nor is it the job of corporations to provide "free" healthcare.
533723
How 'bout doing it one thing at a time. Healthcare's more critical at the moment. I mean, talk about the only industrialized country, and a superpower to boot, which doesn't have a national healthcare system. Social Security doesn't count.
1122159
Democratic statement.
135820
No. For some more enlightened and less idealistic-minded people we realize that the democratic system is simply a guide line. That every and any rule set can be circumvented or bypassed. Vote? As long as there are electoral colleges your vote means almost next to nothing. Our government is corrupt and run by influence and pay offs. You're kidding yourself if you honestly believes a flawed and corrupt system such as ours is effective. Look at Katrina relief. Look at the poor inside our country. Look at the homeless child rate. Then look at the golden umbrellas all the CEO's, senators, justices and governors retain even after retirement. There's what they want you to see and then there's the truth. Take the blue pill Neo.
953442
The dems won a majority, not unanimously.\n\nNote to "Oh Yea":\nThis is not a democracy.  It is a representative republic (and only, according to Ben Franklin, "if you can keep it"). The ruling of the majority vote in a true democracy is equivalent to two wolves and one sheep taking a popular vote as to what is for dinner.  We are a nation of constitutional law which must be maintained no matter what the popular opinion is.
94405
Democrats would need to win control of Congress in the upcoming elections. If that doesn't happen you can forget about it. The Republicans would never let it happen.
1043027
Oh absolutely. The cure for liberalism is education and intelligence. As long as Democrats can keep people poor and hopeless, and blame "the Man" then they have a constituency. When people are not desperate, it's too difficult to pull the wool over their eyes.