31 thoughts on “If only. . .”

  2. Yes! I would like to restart America with the likes of those who started America: Jefferson, Madison, and Franklin, i.e., “politicians” who were capable of serious thought and could provide serious discourse that DIDN’T resemble the tantrums of petulant five-year-olds.

    1. Ah, that would be…

      Restart Amerika in ‘Safe Mode’ (SAFEBOOT_OPTION=Minimal): This option uses a minimal set of original politicians to start Amerika together with the drivers that you must have to load a basic functioning modern state Society…

      1. Why do you spell “America” with a “K”? I’m asking this seriously. I’m sure it means something about how you view the country, but I truly don’t know what.

  3. Please stop comparing U.S.Politicians to 5 year olds having a temper tantrum, it is unfair . Due to thir age, 5 year olds have poor communication skills, and need other ways to express thir needs.

  4. It will never be “free” – taxes will have to be collected to provide for it – but it should definitely be universal! I’d strike down the HCA in a second if it were to be immediately replaced with a single-payer plan.

    1. Absolutely. The ACA is still private insurance. Capitalism does not work for health care because one can’t shop around for best price/value. The private insurance companies just add to the cost.

    2. Compared to the insane amounts we spend here and what little we get for our money, single-payer practically would be free.

      See today’s New York Times for a perfect example:

      http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/us/the-soaring-cost-of-a-simple-breath.html

      Colchicine, for example, a medication used to treat gout and which could be found in a pharaoh’s tomb, costs $5 / pill here in the US. In the rest of the world, it’s often less than $0.03 / pill. Americans are spending thousands of dollars a year to treat asthma (and often skipping doses because they can’t afford them) while. In Europe, you could literally buy an entire lifetime supply of the medication for what an American would spend in just one year.

      This is not what civilization looks like.

      Cheers,

      b&

      1. And the US has a big population and therefore a big tax base. It wouldn’t take much to have the best healthcare system in the world. Canada has only 34 million people, spread out mostly along the US border. Yous* have over 300 million people in less than remote areas.

        *I wanted to say “yous” because it’s folksy 😉

    1. The army, and few select, well trained, police officers. Farmers, who need to shoot vermin (in the case of Australia mostly rabbits and foxes) and who obtain a license after proving they have done the training course and have somewhere safe to keep it. Sports shooters whose weapons are kept in securely locked facilities at the shooting range.

      1. You forgot criminals. Oh that’s right . They’ll turn in their guns and just use knives and bats. Problem solved.

        1. In the UK, that’s pretty much exactly the way it is, to the point that our police officers are not routinely armed (with guns).

  8. Yes!

    And new instances of President (who spies on, and allow torture on, other threads) and Congress (whose thread is not releasing common resources).

  10. I saw today in front of a hospital a sign with words to the effect that guns, concealed or not, are not allowed.

    I wonder by what verbal legerdemain gun enthusiasists would claim to be abused by not being allowed to carry guns into hospitals.

    1. The rationale is that if they can’t carry a gun into a hospital then they have to leave it with someone who stays outside or just leave it at home, and not have it at other places where guns are allowed.

  12. Actually, the US spends more per capita on healthcare than, say, Sweden (and just about everyone else) So compared to US, Universal healthcare in Sweden is not only free, it has a negative cost. Do it right, and you (US) could not only pay for everyones healthcare forever, but you could SAVE taxes doing it.

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