Wow

At school, healthcare reform comes up a lot lately, and Emily has taken up listening to talk radio in the car instead of the same 10 songs played over and over by every radio station. This has sparked a fair bit of political thinking in my brain. Today, 5 of us sat around a table at lunch and discussed various possibilities, advantages, and disadvantages of various ideas being discussed in the government committees and why or why not they should be adopted. It was a pretty good discussion, I enjoyed it much. Last night, Emily and I tried to figure out what was more important, education or health, since the government provides a certain level of education to anyone of any income that ranks highly among all countries and noone thinks twice about it. We don't know the answer and I brought it up at lunch today without getting a satisfying answer from anyone either.

On digg this evening, a link to a video clip of Bill O'Reilly supporting the public option had this very well written post as the first published comment responding to the video. Very much worth thinking about and strongly considering. No, this doesn't mean I'm a communist or socialist or even left-leaning. It's a satirical comment that drives a VERY strong point about the success of our government in dealing with various institutions. I'll stop talking and just let you read for yourself.

"I am a conservative.
This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level
determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.

On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its
valuables thanks to the local police department.

And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right."

The final comments concluding our discussion at lunch today involved the unique structure of our government that prohibits any one party, entity, or person from obtaining a control of power; how political movement and debate occurs slowly and independent of short-term passions; that this is all by design by the founding fathers and adjusted by direct and indirect influence of majorities of people in this rather large country seeking to get along and stay unified; and that the whole thing works pretty good.

If it comforts anyone, I am not afraid of what the future holds for this country. Actually, I am pretty hopeful on the whole.