[abalone]

The linked commentary argues for the abolition of medical licensing. I could probably rest my case right there.

We actually had a lengthy experiment with that earlier in America, pre-regulation. It's where the term "snake oil salesman" originated. The establishment of medical licensing led to a dramatic improvement in public health.

If there's one characteristic of deregulation advocates that you can count on, it's that they have a complete disregard for history.

As for democracy, many attempts have been utterly subverted by voter fraud -- e.g. myriad dictators that win >90% of the "vote" in their countries. It is only through strict regulation that we've come to trust the accuracy of our polls to the degree that we have in the U.S. Having said that, what passes for democracy here is still utterly dominated by money, in that the best-funded candidate usually wins. Again, regulation of money in politics would be one way to improve on that defect.

[gordonguthrie]

Elections in the US are very poorly regulated - political appointees are Election Officers, gerrymandering of political districts is wholesales and your election turnouts are very low by international standards. The best funded candidate wins because your political parties are very weak. One of the core reasons behind this is that in 1948 you nationalised your political parties. In no other country in the world is the internal 'elections' of a political party - the way you select your candidates/primaries - run by the state. In only 8 of the states (I think!) are candidates selected by members of the parties only. Membership has no meaning - which means parties have no meaning - no collective existence. This lets private money rule the day in all your parties. When I was selected as an SNP parliamentary candidate in Scotland I was forbidden to spend ANY MONEY on my selection campaign. Only paid members of the party can select a candidate - and the only way to get selected is to be known the members personally and to do the work.

[abalone]

I'm all for regulating money out of politics. But point of clarification (since we're being all parliamentary).. I was comparing the U.S. to countries with even weaker election controls.

[jes]

Before resting your case regarding the licensing of individuals to practice medicine, would you please comment on whether individuals who write software used in medical devices should also be licensed?