I find it interesting that "lunatic fringe" is now defined as anyone who thinks that socialism isn't going to be a good long-term solution for this country.
Paul Ryan, among others, has been willing to recognize that entitlements cannot be sustained as currently defined. That's not "hard to sustain," but "cannot be sustained." the cold equations simply do not add up. We aren't going to hit the wall, we have hit it.
It is an inescapable fact that those in their 30s, and maybe even 40s, will not be getting Medicare as it's currently set up. It's literally impossible. Current estimates of across-the-board tax increases required just to attempt to break even are in the 60 to 80 percent range.
Either the system will deliver Third World care from rigidly state-controlled medical providers, or it's going to have to start moving away from the current model. No other choices, really.
"Pretend it will work," which seems to encompass most of the corpus of Democratic ideology, isn't a good real-world solution.
I believe Republicans are counting on people having forgotten just how bad the Bush Jr years really were by 2012.
Interesting. What criteria are we using for "bad?" Employment? Inflation rates? Oil prices?