We might as well start considering how to address the details of what the Democrats will have on their agenda. Lets start with health care, and compare Canada's system:

In general, universal health care is a good thing, but there are a few pitfalls that Americans should avoid when they do this necessary thing. A health care system should not, as it has in Canada, became so locked into an ideology that it can't be changed to make it work better. Canada started out with a universal health insurance scheme, but in the 80s premiums were eliminated entirely, with the costs being covered by general taxation. At the same time as the model was changed to government payer universal coverage, the public also assumed a monopoly supplier position. In theory, public funding can only be paid to a public health care institution, instead of a public/private supplier mix.

In reality, there is still a lot of private suppliers providing laboratory and diagnostic services, but people somehow ignore this fact. The idea that no "ugly, profit-making institutions" should be providing care to Canadians has become part of the political mythology which no party dares to change. Naturally enough, public monopolies quickly become rather inefficient (not surprisingly enough sloppy), but very expensive without competition. It should also be remembered that bureaucratic planners quickly resort to waiting lists as a cost control measure. "Drugs" and dental care are not included in the coverage, except during a hospital stay. Thus, there is a tendency to get the patient in and out as quickly as possible to keep the costs down.

Other than this, it is serviceable. If Obama is going to do it, he'd better make sure it's done right. It gets very hard to change anything after the glue sets. One other thing that comes with the mix are what are called equalization payments from the wealthy to the poorer provinces so that health care meets a minimum standard in all of the separate provincial jurisdictions. That measure also makes for interesting politics.

The Conservative Party of Canada is a dead centerline party with all of the other parties well to the left of it. Perhaps an equivalent party in the USA's future would be the "conservative democratic republican party", in opposition to the socialist party.