this article discusses the politics of the new prescription drug addition to our current $36 trillion Medicare albatross, but the key paragraphs in my mind are these:

Ted Kennedy, still the Democrats' point man on health care, has blessed a bipartisan deal in the Senate. He is willing to trade the Democrats' short-term interest in denying Bush a prescription-drug bill for their long-term interest in increasing Americans' dependence on the federal government. This time, the Democrats are not going to save the Republicans from themselves.

"We'll expand it over a period of time," says Kennedy, and there is no reason to doubt him. Expansion is what entitlements do best. Nancy-Ann DeParle, who ran Medicare during Clinton's second term, says she would prefer the bill to be more generous, but says that Democrats "should also remember that there will be time to repair it, and more political support, once the bill becomes law - as the history of past programs shows."

What is even more depressing is that even in the unlikely event that the drug bill fails, the drug companies will still face the threat of a regulatory assault by the state attorneys general and the trial bar. "If the litigation industry has its way, the pharmaceutical industry will, under the threat of financial ruin, turn itself into a public utility," writes Michael Greve of the American Enterprise Institute. "It will, in that entirely possible event, have all the innovative oomph of, say, Pacific Gas & Electric." The industry, for all the money it spends on lobbying and advertising, seems entirely unprepared for the battles it faces.

The real target for Kennedy and the rest is, of course, the complete nationalization of the health care industry. For starters. The socialists have great patience. They know that once Americans must rely on the State for health care, the rest of the dominos will fall easily. And their goal--absolute control of every aspect of our existence--will be in reach. The fact that our nation will probably end up resembling East Germany at best, or North Korea at worst, bothers them not a bit. They don't plan on missing any meals, or relying on the socialist system to meet their needs. The leaders never do.

As an aside, the real role of the trial attorneys--the most fervent supporters of the Democratic Party--becomes more obvious. Their objective is to make it impossible for the private sector to function, forcing the government to fill the gaps as the only alternative. In this case, it's the field of health care, but other examples come to mind across the board.