Alternet./EU-Digest: US Politics : Corporate Media, Sellouts in Congress and Industry Bigs Have Hijacked the Health Care Debate - by Joshua Holland

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US Politics : Corporate Media, Sellouts in Congress and Industry Bigs Have Hijacked the Health Care Debate - by Joshua Holland

"If you can frame the terms of a debate, you've gone a long way towards winning it before you've begun. In the US, tragically, Republicans, the health care industry and business-friendly Blue Dog Democrats have largely been able to do exactly that, with a substantial assist from the corporate-owned media. They’ve successfully focused the health care debate on the short-term costs to the federal government’s bottom line, obscuring the potential impact that a meaningful realignment of the health care system would have on the economy as a whole. In so doing, opponents of reform have hoodwinked much of the public into believing that investments in America’s national health care system will wind up costing individuals more than they’d gain from the effort.

In fact, they’ve done such a good job that much of the discourse has revolved around what is arguably one of the least relevant aspects of the proposals being debated in Congress: whether they “cost too much” or are “deficit neutral” in terms of their impact on the federal budget over the next 10 years.

Note EU-Digest: If the health care debate does not turn out in favor of the Obama Administration, it will not only demonstrate the overwhelming strength Corporate America has over the US political establishmen, but also be an indication that the Democratic majority in the Congress and Senate can be expected to crumble in the next Congressional elections.