John McCain is not Burkean, in any conscious way. He's a Navy man, through and through. You cannot understand him, without understanding that. He actually believes that there is "one nation, under God", unlike his C-PAC trolls-under-the-bridge who believe that there is a liberal corruption in America that needs to be removed, like filth. (viz: Cunningham: "Barack Hoosein Obama! Barack Hoosein Obama! Barack Hoosein Obama! Barack Hoosein Obama!).
It's depressing, this Burkeanism.
As for health care, the more you look at it, the more you realize that radical change is what is actually best for the system, as half-way moves are not going to put the system on a new trajectory, one that has the potential to actually put health care costs in the US in reverse for the next ten years, back to some level of sanity. And that's how ideology, even Burkean-brand, can get you in the wrong policy box.As it is, what American will likely end up with are a bunch of subsidies to buy a financial product called 'health insurance', with McCain's pandering subsidies just looking smaller and more 'containable' [block-grantish] than the rest.
It's depressing, this Burkeanism. I mean, Burke would have turned down the Louisiana purchase, no doubt, and never have funded the Erie canal, right? On the other hand, McCain would likely spoil for a fight that Burke would resist (would Burke want to kick Russia out of the G8?).
Still, if the Democrats can get Texas, then maybe there is enough hope not to set one's sights on Canada, quite yet. "There is a town in North Ontario"....:
