You give us much to ponder. Thank you.

I respectfully ask you to consider my responses to your comments.

"WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD I TRUST GOVERNMENT???????? Since when, SINCE WHEN, has government had my "best interests" at "heart"???...Over-reaching, greedy, control-hungry politicians who answer to any business who can offer them millions in kick-backs and who can legislate my freedom away, are my enemy

No argument there. However, this begs the question, What structures are currently in place for citizens to actively and legally replace corrupt politicians? It isn't easy, but there is a legal (so far) structure for doing so. The CEO of Exxon (or Aetna, for that matter) doesn't have your best interests at heart either, but if you don't like it, you can lump it.

At least, as it is now, I may stop doing business with any company who fails to provide the service i pay for.

In theory, yes. But what if said company, or the cabal to which they belong, provide an essential service for you and your family, but are the only game in town?

What can I do when government denies my petition? Sue them?

Yes. You wouldn't be the first to do so, and win recompense.

Business is not my enemy! I have a choice. Government will not give me a choice.

Unregulated pseudo-free-market capitalism is everyone's enemy, unless you are a pseudo-free-market capitalist. Ever hear about the Robber Baron era and anti-trust legislation?

Last time I lokked, we still have free elections in this country. They aren't perfect, but we have them (so far).

A government that is big enough to give you whatever you want is also big enough to take everything away"

I think we saw that right after 9/11, when Americans wanted safety and security, and were all too happy to hand control to the gov't on a silver platter, enabling them to subsequently gut our constitution and take away our civil liberties. Are you as outraged by that as I am?

Our founders would not agree that government is the righter of all wrongs, the equalizer, the ultimate enforcer. Our founders would recoil in horror.

Um... just what was it that the founders were trying to do when they set our government up? Why did they even bother?

I'll leave you with a thought. Consider, for a moment, that Police, Firefighting, Municipal Water Utilities, Interstate Highways, Social Security, National Security, and the Armed Forces, to name only a few, were taken out of the government's hands and controlled by the private business sector, according to doctrinaire free-market principals? Do you think we'd be better off? How would such a thing even be possible?

I'm sure you are intelligent enough to realize that some form of government is necessary, and that you'd agree that at least a few of the things I mentioned above are the sensible and desirable purview of government. If so, please carefully consider the reasons why. When you are done, ask yourself if the same reasons could also be applied to the idea of the government's role in reforming health care.

No, my friend... You don't understand.

Foamers and Libertarians and Gov't haters simply are not interested in actual Freedom.

No, for them, it's the Illusion of Freedom that counts.

You know, Government Can Do No Good, right? That is the bedrock belief of millions of brave AM radio listeners as they barrel down federally-funded and administered Interstate Highways, past acres and acres of federally-subsidized corn and soybean fields and Ethanol plants, on the way to their FDIC-insured bank to cash their Social Security check.

The Illusion of freedom will do just fine, thank you. It will do every bit as well as the Illusion of Australia you can get in any Outback Steakhouse, or the Illusion of Choice you get by when thoughtfully considering if you will supper at Applbees or TGI Fridays tonight.

Please... Don't overcomplicate things.

..."when your children find out how lame you are, they'll kill you in your sleep"

Here is a little excerpt from FZ's autobiography. It's a scream- especially this part:

http://books.google.com/books?id=FB0O_HCpBy0C&pg=PA258&lpg=PA258&dq=%22we+fucked+this+came+out%22&source=bl&ots=crt5f65izB&sig=rrm6qTqP_B8EaVzvBX-Y4rWUnVc&hl=en&ei=DXmeSqL9NKix8QaFjPCoAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=%22we%20fucked%20this%20came%20out%22&f=false