Every decade or two, politicians embark on a crusade to reform the American health care system. Theodore Roosevelt pushed for national health insurance in his 1912 run for president under the Progressive party banner. More recently, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton advanced health insurance proposals in presidential campaigns or while in office. Johnson, building on the initiatives of his predecessor, oversaw the creation of Medicare and Medicaid. Clinton's sweeping proposal for national health insurance failed, but he subsequently signed into law a small government insurance program for children.

Barack Obama has taken on the task of major health reform and, unlike his predecessors, he might succeed--in the sense that Congress could pass broad legislation. However, given the views of Congressional leadership, it is less clear that legislative success would yield a sustainable health care system based on values shared by most Americans.

The current health reform debate is the latest battle ground for the hearts and minds of the people. As we learned when that phrase was last popular, tactical victories in health reform will lead to strategic failures if the policy we pursue is fundamentally at odds with the core interests, behaviors, and beliefs of most of our fellow citizens.

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Joseph Antos is the Wilson H. Taylor Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy at AEI.