In the one-on-one Obama Clinton debate in California, Ms. Clinton at one point quietly acknowledged that although “single-payer” was the preferred health system that most Americans wanted and that most professionals who focus on fixing the healthcare system also prefer, it was not practical to even go there at this time given the forces involved.

What are the implications of that thought? It means that in this democracy, what the people want cannot be done because certain forces, not of the “people” are too strong for democracy to actually work. What was the purpose of Gettysburg? “That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Apparently, it has.