You are right about education Mithus. Though a lot of our discussion here is also about the role of Federal vs Local government. The Federal govt involvement in lower education has been disastrous.

I actually think that Federal Student Loans are OK... even though Federal higher education financing has been a primary reason the cost of higher education keeps skyrocketing.

The problem with health care though on a Federal level.. well there are a few.

If you or anyone could answer a few questions, I would think it a lot more sane...

1) How do you keep a Fed Health system even slightly fair, without criminalizing unhealthy behavior? AKA unless we start throwing people in jail for eating too much cake, why the fuck should I or anyone pay for some fatass who eats 12000 calories of junk a day to have 4 heart surgeries?

2) Supply vs Demand is a real force, and all economics follows it - its as concrete as a law of physics - simply put, the more people want something the higher the price. The price may not always be in terms of money... one example is the old Soviet bread lines. The cost was reasonable in terms of money per loaf, but there simply was not enough.. so people had to wait in line. So, the question is what system do you use for doling out the finite amount of health care available in response to a potentially unlimited number of requests to access care?

3) How do you encourage companies to do expensive research and testing of new treatments and drugs, if they will no longer make a good profit? - Also, if the market is no longer setting the price of treatments... what metrics can you use to set "fair" pricing? Remember, if you do not make it lucrative for the companies they will no longer seek new treatments, but if you let them, they will have everyone paying 1000$ a day for some treatment they do not need... (not to mention all the grey areas, where people can be kept alive an extended period but at great financial cost. ) So.... if you take the free market out of the equation, how do you properly set the pricing for these treatments and services? ( please note, that such a certrally managed economic system has never worked on a large scale for ANYTHING, EVER, in the ENTIRE history of humankind. It always has ended up in the destruction of said economy/industry, a mess of utter corruption and bureaucratic incompetence. Without exception, and without fail.)

So, how can these fundamental issues be addressed? Lots of people like to think that those of us who oppose things like free health care oppose it because we want people to suffer or something... not because we think it is utterly impossible to provide in an equitable manner. Thats just not the case.

For who could be free when every other man's humour might domineer over him? - John Locke (2nd Treatise, sect 57)