I believe that the defense of a country, the education of its' citizens, and the health of those citizens is the tripod that supports the nation. Ignore any one of those things, and the nation will inevitably topple.

Currently, though only the DEFENSE of this country is universal. The Armed Forces make no distinction between poor and rich. The land and property of ALL its' citizens is equally defended. We don't have the Army only protecting rich people's land. This Land is OUR Land....

Unfortunately, the education of its' citizens and the health of the nation is in the hands of private 'for profit' corporations. And what is the PRIMARY goal of a corporation..? Yep. PROFIT. If it is more profitable to only cover the few the proud, the rich, that is what will happen. If it is more profitable to only educate the rich, that is what will happen (and has).

If the Armed Forces can survive a mandate to protect us ALL, why not the others?

The basic problem we have with the debate is pride. The lists of where we stand in the world with regard to life expectancy, access to health care, literacy, infant mortality, and a plethora of other categories up to and including 'quality of life' have us WAY down the list. Yet, you ask just about ANY American where he THINKS the USA is, and you will hear a universal 'USA... #1! Hell yeah!'

It is SO hard to persuade anyone to change anything, when they THINK they are already at the top of any list. Pride is killing the debate in the States. Were we to actually acknowledge our shortcomings in all these fields, the marches on Washington would be to demand that we BECOME the best, not to prevent any effort at achieving that, which seems to be their current goal.

You want to get outraged, demand an answer from your elected officials... WHY IS THE RICHEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD NOT NUMBER ONE? Until we acknowledge our pitiful position on all these 'quality of life' polls, we will continue to stymie any effort to change it...

Look at the outrage at Michael Moore and 'Sicko'... Rather than indignation at how he MIGHT be not showing everything in its' BEST light and a grudging acknowledgment that there MIGHT be some things in it that actually ARE true, why is the indignation not there for the things that ARE true? Surely there are sufficient for even the most patriotic flag-waver to reevaluate his unquestioning acceptance of the status quo?

When the States are at the TOP of those lists, we will FINALLY be able to say 'USA... #1' and it actually be true.