I love talking about and reading about politics. I'm generally in accord with the tone and sentiment of Salon letters. I'm also clear about one thing: all the letter writers (including me) are just expressing their opinions. No one knows- can ever know, in advance, what is going to happen.

That is why I don't give much credence to people who say, with absolute certainty, that Hillary can or cannot win. Or that Bill's legacy is absolutely fabulous for her - or it's not.

Now if you say you will or will not vote for her because of her positions, that seems honest and accurate. After all, you're just speaking for yourself.

I look at the Bush campaigns, especially 2000 and I thought: there was no way that Gore could lose. But Florida gave it to Bush. Who could possibly have seen how poor a candidate Gore was, even though it doesn't take much imagination to see that he would have been vastly superior to what we got instead.

I have become very conservative in my predictions; I've seen too many unexpected things occur in too many campaigns too have much faith in mine, or most other people's predictive abilities.

As a business coach and former salesperson. I have extensive experience in evaluating how and when people are lying - either to themselves or others. Some kinds of lying are subtle. It might be a lie of omission, or it might be a shaded response in order to avoid disharmony, or to keep life simple. Or it might be the kind of lying that occurs when you really, really want something to happen, and you really, really don't want to hear any conflicting opinions.

The interesting thing is that is that without a lot of experience you can't tell if someone is lying or not. I was often fooled when I was younger and I am sometimes still fooled. Experience is a cruel teacher, but that's about the only way you can begin to discern what's true and what's not.

Here's another critical issue: do you really want to know the truth? No one is easier to fool than a person who's mind is already made up. When you hear the question " that's a really good product, or a really good idea, isn't it ?", you're not getting a real question, you merely receiving a request for a confirmation of what the person already believes.

In Bush & Co. we have the perfect confluence of inexperience and a pre-determined mindset. W.C. Fields quote "You can't cheat an honest man" could be changed to "You can't fool an honest man." Character always shows, and the travesty that is Iraq could never have occurred from a president who had even a reasonable amount of character and integrity.

The idea that we have responsibility for our fellow citizens is at the core of the debate we have been having since we emerged as homo sapiens 200,000 years ago. The story of Cain and Abel illustrates the point well.

In the U.S. the debate has raged on for nearly 100 years; the AMA, when opposed to some federal legislation proposed in about 1918, used the argument that government mandated coverage was socialism. Even then the argument was powerful and persuasive enough to doom the legislation.

It is no different today. An interesting aspect of the debate: why is socialism so bad? In our country we actually have a mixed economy: socialism and capitalism. The government build roads and the car companies make cars. No one complains much about taxes to build roads. The government collects trash and private companies make trash trucks. No one complains that the trash truck manufacturers make a profit.

Do not blame the insurance companies. They are only responding to the reality that the demand for health care exceeds our willingness to pay for it. Having been in the health care business for nearly 40 years I can guarantee that if you ran an insurance company, you would behave the same. You would do everything possible to control costs.

In reality, the solution is very simple. Provide universal coverage. Keep everyone in the pool. Providers could be public or private - this doesn't change the basic issue that health care is expensive and we as a country have not agreed that we want to pay for it.

We have a broken system; don't blame any individual player for the problem (you pick any individual you want). The proof of this proposition is simple: if the insurance companies eliminated all the insurance company gatekeepers and reduced the salaries of all key executives, would our health care coverage issues be solved? Absolutely not.

Here's my simple solution. Mandate that everyone be covered.

If the cost exceeded some predetermined percent of income, subsidize the cost. Standardize the coverage provided. Standardize the record keeping process. Allow people to buy supplemental coverage if they wanted it for cosmetic and other non life-threatening medical conditions.

Acknowledge that it is socialized medicine, and be proud of it! Admit that it is OK for us to guarantee coverage for everyone, not just the rich, or people working for employers who can afford to provide coverage. Be proud that we care enough about our brother that we will provide basic health protection for all people.

Health care coverage is expensive, but doggone it, its worth it.