That's a line of rhetoric that we've heard a lot from the right wing lately. Here's a random example. And we hear it over and over again: government can't do it. It'd end up a huge mess because every interaction people apparently have with the government is a huge, freaking disaster that would almost make you think that America was some kind of humongous failure.
Well, I'm tired of that shit.
Here's some things that I'm grateful to the government for providing for its citizens, and it's time to bust out that list when you hear "the government can't." The government can and has:
*Defeated Hitler, stared down the Soviet Union, and kept Americans safe from foreign invasion for 197 years now
*Created a system that allows me to send a letter anywhere in the country in a matter of days for less than the cost of a pack of gum.
*Developed a mass-transit system that lets me get anywhere in the city for $2.25 faster than I could go in a car.
*Sent a giant truck filled with men of heroic strength and skill backed by a million gallons of water to the rescue anytime someone smells smoke.
* Protected New Yorkers from street crime to the point where people have started waxing nostalgic the days of heroin junkies in doorstops.
*Given me, at least, a top-notch education from grades 5 to 12 that sent me off to a prestigious college in style for a total cost of $0.00.
* Built a network of highways that means you don't have to hit a red light between Boston and Seattle
* Assured a pension for the vast majority of senior citizens, while giving them access to health care and prescription drugs
*Invented the Internet
*Sent three guys to the moon and back with less computing power than I use to play Smash Bros. And then sent a robot outside of the solar system in 30 years without losing touch with it.
*Opened the doors to one world's finest museum systems to the public, for free
And these are the guys I'm supposed to think are going to botch health care worse the America's health insurance companies?
And that's just scratching the surface - you got any more?
UPDATES:
Scientician: Complete elimination of smallpox from the entire world. May I be so bold to add polio?
And I should add here: It guarantees that the food I eat won't make me sick. ANd that the air is pretty good and the water is pretty good. And it keeps cheap, clean stuff coming out of my taps practically for free.