My next laptop will more then likely be a netbook, and that will be pure Linux.

For the health care I believe in the fact hat there should be an option for those who can not get coverage in other venues. This however does not have to be a public option, nor a government run healthcare. A good step forward is to remove hospitals (notice I’m not saying private practitioners)from being for profit companies and move them back to be non-profits similar to the way it was before Nixon privatized healthcare and started the road to high cost to where it is now.

I also believe there should be more non-profit insurance choices then Kaiser, but on the same scale as Kaiser. The only thing the laws should fund truly is that insurance can not deny coverage for a pre-existing condition, not can they randomly drop coverage. I am not opposed to a public option, but I think taking out the stock market and answering to shares holders would help against the costs to some degree. Non-profit status doesn’t remove or negate any of the costs, just the profit goal going forward on who the company/hospital answers to. This would not increase government at all.

Now as a Ron Paul republican, I believe in the removal or privatization of the governement. The Patriot act was one of the greatest travesty ever hoisted on the American people. The DHS should be disbanded since there is too much overlap with other agencies. The federal Reserve should be removed, though with the recent audits starting, that may happen on it’s own. I can go through agency by agency on what should be removed. I also think healthcare (from at least the hospital perspective) should be a public service ala the Fire and Police Dept.

The one thing people are missing is the fact that even if the law passes and there is a public option, that doesn’t guarantee that hospitals or health workers will accept it. We are then trying to tread on state law, in which the federal government has no say over. The fed can only blackmail by withholding other money to force the state into capitulation.

The United States is one of the most generous countries in the world but we need to recognize the hardships of our own people. We need to recognize that the problems of our neighbors can become our problems (home decay, increasing contagious desease, and crime)and ignoring them only make them worse. So, since the days of families, communities, and churches taking care of their own seems to have past, I do think our government should fill in those gaps and be more involved.

There are private companies that have taken advantage of the niche markets in package delivery (UPS, DHL, etc.) because there is a profit there. UPS will deliver envelopes too, but they don’t want to do what the post office does. There’s no money in that. On the other hand, UPS can get a 75 pound box to someone’s front door overnight. They pick and choose. They take what’s profitable and don’t concern themselves with the rest.

Much the same way that there’s no money in private insurance companies offering low cost coverage to high risk people. The private insurers want to pick and choose. They want to make money. The problem is that this leaves a whole lot of people unable to afford coverage.

A public option would not wreck private insurance. It would insure a lot of people that don’t have the ability to pay for private insurance. Private would still offer things that public could not, and would still make insane profits, just as they are doing now. It’s not socialism. It’s not big government. It’s just the US Post Office in action.

Also keep in mind that the public option is not “free health care”, paid for by your tax dollars. There are premiums involved.

Sorry for the long post, but this is something that I think a lot of people are worried about, and I wanted to put down my own thoughts. Peace brother.