A democracy has a government of, by, and for the people. We no longer have a democracy. Since 1,980, our government has been transformed and now represents its large corporations not its people; that’s the definition of oligarchy. For 50 years, under every administration, Democratic or Republican, inequality has increased. In the early 1970s about 75% of the population approved of our government; in recent years less than 25% do.
As to science, Merchants of Doubt explains that corporations have sponsored first the creation of doubt about scientific findings that put their businesses at risk and then about science as an enterprise in general. Mainstream science, including medicine, has recently been responding with narratives of its own. Whatever is true about mRNA vaccines, the way they were introduced and the marketing surrounding them has decreased trust in medicine and served the merchants of doubt.
If your diagnosis is that the present administration is responsible for the problems facing public health and your plan is to replace it with a Democratic administration, you are almost certain to be disappointed. Unless we reregulate our large corporations, our medical enterprise, which has failed to keep up with the rest of the developed world while it costs twice as much, will continue to go downhill while its cost continues to rise. We should be thinking about how we can reregulate large corporations. I suspect that will probably require an alternative party not beholden to corporations and the rich.
Reference
Stay updated, free articles. Join our Telegram channel
Full access? Get Clinical Tree
