Academic?! Them’s fightin’ words! To some extent I agree that arguing about a label doesn’t make any sense; then again I’ve found that things which do not make any sense to me seem to make a lot of sense to other people. And so since we are talking politics, peoples’ perception of a label (mustang or probe, medicare or evilrepublicandeathcare) will have a great affect upon reality even though it is not based upon reality.

Old people do vote in droves, but they are easily confused. Put a sign that says “driver license testing” outside a polling place and watch them hobble away in terror. But seriously folks… people vote for the common good over their own self-interest a surprising amount. Obviously not enough to make a difference, but it happens. And it is enough to allow for frequent changes in Medicare since it is combined with several layers of plausible deniability for politicians: the Medicare administration, a convoluted budget process with committees and sub-committees, etc.