Yes, that's true in many cases. There are not-too-bright Americans, as people everywhere, who will elect sleazy politicians who'll make promises they and the country cannot afford, or maintain over the long term. But they make them, and enact them, anyway.
It takes a more sophisticated people, like the Swiss perhaps, who can look at these programs and judge whether their country can afford them or not. This was also true of the United States when they had more State rights. But right now these left wing rubes. encouraged by Washington, really feel they can get something for nothing, it's all free, and 'the rich', or someone else somewhere, will pay for it.
Representative democracy works fine if you have an educated and moderately sophisticated electorate who understand the basics of how an economy works, but as we can see by the OWS people, and their supporters, that they are all rather clueless.
Nothing else matters to a many politicians more than getting elected and they will make enemies of others in their society, make promises they can't possibly keep, lie, distort and do whatever it takes to achieve their goals. And they will pick up many followers along if the can sufficiently manage to fake sincerity. BHO is among the best at that.
Of course health care reform has many components and it's not the case that everyone who opposes the whole package opposes every part of it. In fact polls show that when you break it down into component parts, most Americans support most of the law.
