Reply #54: The book, Team of Rivals describes how the Republican Party

[JDPriestly]

was formed in the mid 19th century as the country divided over slavery.

The Democratic Party no longer represents us.

The health care reform fiasco is a watershed issue similar to that of slavery.

Affordable health care is a human right. Insurance companies are like slave holders. They are unable to recognize that health care is a basic human right, that the advances in science that have made the progress in medicine are not their property because that knowledge belongs to the doctors and other medical professionals who by ancient oath are pledged to heal without judging the merit of the person needing their care.

Underlying the disputes about health care are very troubling questions: How is property to be defined in an information age? How are commodities, services, labor and capital to be valued in a post-industrial age? How is wealth to be distributed or claimed in a world in which the needs of the ever-growing human population far exceed the resources that remain?

The struggle to answer these questions, I anticipate, will result in a realignment of our political parties just as the struggle to resolve the disputes over slavery and tariffs did in the 19th century.

If the fundamentalism of the right prevails, we will witness a Dark Age in which progress in science is no longer possible.

If corporatism prevails, we will witness a rise of feudalism which will also result in a a decline in the dissemination of knowledge and understanding.

As for the Democratic Party as we know it, Obama's first year in office is a tragic failure. Yes, he passed a lot of bills. But he has avoided dealing with the really significant issues of our time.

Except in the area of foreign policy, Obama's presidency has become mired down in petty politics and Obama himself in the minute details of governing.

Of course, this is not entirely the President's fault. It must primarily to be blamed on his advisers. Geithner, Summers, Bernanke and others in his cabinet have failed the President. Of course, he chose them and therefore has no one to blame but himself. Of course, he can change them or form, as other presidents have in the past, a kitchen cabinet, that is unofficial advisers whose appointments are not presented to Congress but who guide Obama's policies off the record. That might be Obama's best course at this time when there is so much partisan rancor. Th current cabinet members can either accept that they are not making the final decisions or resign. Either way, the President will show strength if he steps away from his current team especially his current economic team.