Yana Usdi

If by open the borders you mean allow interstate competition, that's not as good an idea as it seems on the surface. Look at the credit card industry and others where we've done that. What they did was to move the the States where they are regulated the least and when they get sued they often have to be dealt with in those courts and under those rules. That allows them to pick the places least likely to be consumer friendly then really go to work screwing us. With it the way it is at least if your state enforces fair practices you've got a chance, some are better than others.

Yes, with single payer the government is still there, but let's not forget that many, many other nations do have single payer systems running today and they do it for less money than we're spending and get better service for that cost. And they can cover everyone while we leave tens of millions uninsured. The problem isn't the ability of government to do it, it's our government in particular, and a good part of the reason they can't (read won't) fix it is because of the conflicts of interests and revolving door politics involved. Most of their campaign contributions come from the big money players, and when they leave office that's where their best paychecks will be found as well. We can't afford to buy a Congressman, so who do you think they've been working for? I don't want to get the few people we can hold accountable out of the system just to hand it to the people they've corrupted it for.

It's not a question of my trusting government more, but of them being better able to be held accountable. Them we can vote out of office if we ever cared enough to get pissed. With the corps in charge, they don't respond to votes and with a few congress critters in their pockets they own the system. The best way for us to gain control is through the vote since we don't have the money to buy them outright ourselves.

The only reason things ever got this bad is because we got lazy. The only way they'll ever get fixed is if we get pissed. All the programs and great ideas in the world won't help if we stay uninvolved in our own lives and government and allow corruption to take over the system. Where's the anger? We just don't care for the most part. In the end, that's why we're here and that's who and what we should blame. Apathy fed corruption and it would have happened under any system of government or business with this level of apathy in the people. If power corrupts, so much more so for unchecked power, and we stopped checking and holding them accountable.

__________________
"Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach him to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day." -Dan Moon

Always be kind to animals, Morning, noon and night: For animals have feelings too, And furthermore, they bite. - John Gardner