I'm an optimist...if not a king.

When I become king, certain basic services will be provided to all people. At cost. Without profit built in. Especially, obscene profit. That’s why in the USA we have the most expensive health care system in the world. Virtually everybody that is running it, rakes in immense profits. The providers, the insurance companies, the drug makers. You name it. It’s a big capitalist scam. A way to make money off an essential service. Every citizen, and even those who aren’t citizens, should be entitled to decent health care. I want to live in a nation where we, the people, think of health care as a human right. Yes, we’re all entitled to it. Not just the rich. But the poor, the destitute, as well. Everyone. It’s the right thing to do. And European countries and Canada come much closer than the USA in achieving this goal. We all come up short to some degree. But we Americans come up trailing the pack when ranked with other industrialized nations. It’s a dirty shame. The Barack Obama administration wants to change all that. By providing a public option for health care. And polls show that Americans are swinging in favor of a single-payer system provided by the government. One similar to Medicare. People would still be allowed to choose. To keep their private plans, if that’s what they want. Fine. That sounds like a decent compromise. But you and I know that the vast majority will choose the public option. Because it’s gonna aim at making health care affordable. For everyone. Private plans won’t do that. They’ll stay affordable only for the relatively rich and healthy people. That’s why we have 45 million uninsured Americans today. Most can't afford the existing private plans. They’re so expensive because obscene profits have been built in. That ain’t right. It’s downright immoral. Yes, obscene. Of course, private interests will fight the Obama plan. Because they like profits. They like the rich to keep getting richer. Even if it’s at the expense of the poor and middle classes. They’d sacrifice the common good at the blink of an eye. Because they are the worst kind of capitalists. Greedy. Greedy. Greedy. With very little conscience, if any. They’ll be busy in Washington trying to defeat the Obama plan. By bribing our elected officials. That strategy has worked in the past. And it may work again. But ultimately, we’re gonna have a revolution. And the majority of us will get our way. Yes, that makes me an optimist. If not a king. –Jim Broede