The best single episode of any podcast (subscribe to 70) that I have heard this year. The episode is so good, I will probably repost this message a couple times in 2025.

“In 1962, President John F. Kennedy said, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

It was a recognition of a universal truth in human history: Social stability, the rule of law, and civilization will eventually break down if a population is immiserated for too long while a handful of elites profit. And just two months after that speech, Kennedy honed in on the health care crisis in America, pressing for the passage of what would become Medicare. ”

“What we are now talking about doing, most of the countries of Europe did years ago,” he said at a Madison Square Garden rally. “We are behind every country, pretty nearly, in Europe, in this matter of medical care for our citizens.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about that moment in history in light of the news over the past week. All of a sudden, after the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, everyone is talking about health care, even though almost nobody was talking about it during the presidential campaign.

David Sirota reflects on the shocking murder of United Health CEO Brian Thompson and the surge of public anger it unleashed against America’s broken health insurance system. Why hasn’t this longstanding outrage translated into universal health care — a system every other wealthy nation already has?

Tracing decades of broken promises and corporate influence — from the Clinton and Obama administrations to today — Sirota looks at how political corruption has trapped Americans in a system that profits from their suffering. Drawing on JFK’s 1960s warnings about social stability and justice, this audio essay explores the health care crisis as a symptom of a deeper democracy crisis — and asks what it will take for Americans to finally demand change.

https://podbay.fm/p/lever-time/e/1734429600