I truly want to understand all the points a small government person uses to defend where we are today and where they think someone who wants a public option will end up.

1. For anyone under 65 private inusurance has been the only option for the last 50 or so years and health care costs are and have been spiraling out of control. Business can’t afford to offer health insurance and if they do it puts them out of business. A public option would allow a small business with 5 or 10 employees to have an option that would not overburden the employer. Sounds good for small business the bread and butter of the Repubs.

2. Killing old people. Do you honestly believe that doctors will kill old people just becaue their is a public option. So then you must believe that doctors don’t provide very good care under HMO’s (private insurance) since their incentive is process them quicker, require more tests (needed or not), and send them home sicker so the family will care for them. Both of these are just fear mongering. Doctors are human there are good ones and there are bad ones, neither of these situations will cause the good ones to change their practice.

3. Why does it have to be all or nothing. Why can’t there be something out there to help reign in the insurance companies. Everyone scream free market but there is no free market. If there were health insurance companies would truly have to compete and currently you can call every health insurance company and get a quote for coverage and they ALL cost the same, where is the competition.

I just don’t understand how anyone could be against a form of health coverage that covers everyone and rewards prevention and quality rather than rewards volume of care.

Do we have big government representing the People, or a huge front for the corporate interests that run the country? Discuss amongst yourselves for a nanosecond

Federalism has led to a concentration of power in Washington, and the disconnect between the Beltway and Main Street is profound, and disgusting. Canada has a dominion which gives greater regional autonomy, and reserves centralized power for matters concerning every province, such as national defence. I find such a system appealing, especially when it is governed by a parliament instead of a congress. Why? By its very nature, a parliament allows multiple political parties, who govern through coalitions. Everybody gets something out of the deal; put another way, nobody comes away with nothing.

Will Americans accept big government? Why not? The media’s in place to condition them to accept nearly anything, albeit in confusion, ignorance and desperation. On the other hand, populism is alive and well, if manipulated by Big Business, and perverted by a false ideology of “rugged individualism.” If each American is an island, it makes it easier for the organised elements to seize power and ram through their sociopathic agenda.

Europe is moving away from strict nationalism, and the EU has enabled certain peoples to obtain a greater freedom. For example, in Spain the Catalans now enjoy semi-autonymous status, and can now teach their children using their own language. In practice the Catalans speak both Catalan and Spanish.

Another example: in Northern Ireland the people have received their human rights and investment (especially by Germany) has lifted people out of poverty. The ghettos of Belfast and Derry no longer exist; instead we find peaceful communities.

I’d suggest the U.S. would do well to transform its federal government into an “EU” type organisation, and allow states to form regional governments that will perform many functions now reserved for Washington. I’d prefer that the Beltway enjoy all the power & prestige of Brussels; which is to say, held in contempt and hobbled in most matters.

The U.S. is too big to govern otherwise, and I’m personally sick & tired of having the Deep South call all the shots in my life. I live in Northern California, and many here are ready not for succession, but for greater autonomy. Without the DEA we could live in peace, here in this lovely part of the world; instead of having to fight the feds, who have lost their “War on Drugs” which is actually a war against the American people.

No more centralism; no more fascism, no more decisions made by legislators living across the continent, blinded by their sicko Christianity and moronic GOP, and bought-n-paid for laws benefiting the Plutocracy.