Parenthood is one of those “third rails” of our society and sometimes I just gotta touch it a little bit. I meant no harm. Besides, it was important to what I was illustrating. And my being childless is worth 72 years of recycling.

To your argument that either health plan will be a step in the direction to single-payer, nothing could be further from the truth. Both plans will wed us to the insurance industry forever and in perpetuity. That’s the whole point of them and the people telling you otherwise are lying through their teeth.

As for how to pay for it, John Conyers has the plan laid out, including facts and figures at
www.hrc676.org

BTW - someone has to keep the Democratic party populated, so call them sperm dumplings if you want, but I am raising 2 great Democrats in my house.

We could not create a single payer system in our current budgetary environment. We simple could not afford it. Couple that with the upheaval caused by implementing a single payer system and you have real problems. Like it or not a large portion of the US economy is wedded to healthcare. We have millions of people processing claims, selling insurance, administering programs and actually providing healthcare. While I would prefer a single payer healthcare system, I cannot reconcile in my mind how you transition several million workers from a private payroll to a government payroll or transition them to some other profession. The ripple affect would be enormous and rife with unintended consequences.

As far as the mandate question, it is fair to ask. I honestly think Obama chose to avoid mandates to blunt the attacks in the general. The simple fact is that Obama will likely have a pseudo mandate, meaning it will be so difficult to opt out that few people will manage to do it.