The case for socialized medicine

Suppose the national defense of the United States were relegated to the private sector. Instead of the publicly funded Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, the country would be defended by private militias funded mainly by insurance companies. In the event of foreign attack on U.S. soil, the militias would defend those citizens in the affected areas who'd paid defense insurance premiums through their places of work (or, if self-employed, as individuals).

Rummy and friends were woking on it. That's how we got Blackwater and other mercenaries in action here at home and abroad.

The advantage of a market-based national defense is obvious: Every citizen would receive an individualized amount of military protection, based on the value each of us placed on defending the homeland. Those who were particularly fretful about another 9/11 would pay a lot; those inclined to dwell on the rarity of foreign attack (two from the air and one by land in all of U.S. history) might prefer to use that money to buy a pottery wheel and a kiln for the basement. The freedom to choose is what this country is all about.
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