Name one thing that the government runs that operates as efficiently as private enterprise. Mail delivery? Even the US Postal Service realizes that it cannot deliver the mail as effectively as private enterprise. Where I live in Colorado, the mail is delivered by individual subcontractors hired by the US Postal Service. No government trucks, uniforms or mail bags. I get my mail every day with no noticeable degradation in service. Why are UPS, FedEx and Airborne Express, among others, so successful? Because they can do what only the US Postal Service used to do, deliver packages, more effectively and economically. The government-controlled postal service must raise its rates every year simply to keep from going bankrupt. That's not exactly a model for efficiency.

When was the last time you had to get a new or renewed driver's license? If you haven't had to go through this torture test recently, be prepared. Most assuredly you'll have to take a number and wait for hours in a room crowded with dozens of other miserable people who have sacrificed a day's wages just to endure the impoliteness and surliness of a disgruntled government employee. "Hurry up and wait" is the phrase that comes to mind. This is a phrase that I first learned in the military. Speaking of the military, you would think that one of the primary duties of the government, to protect our country from foreign enemies, would be something that should be effectively accomplished. However, when you think of something that is government controlled, think politics and politicians. Military leaders know how to fight and win wars. They are trained and experienced at doing that. However, whenever politicians get involved, look out! Your elected politician, whether Democrat or Republican, will do anything to get your vote. And nothing gets voters more energized than a war. Politicians know this and they will take on any war and play it to their advantage.

This is exactly what happened in Vietnam. On August 7, 1964, following an attack on an American naval vessel, the Madox, by North Vietnamese torpedo boats, Congress passed the Southeast Asia Resolution, a conditional declaration of war (the vote was 416-0 in the House and 98-2 in the Senate). America had overwhelming military superiority in that war, yet Congress constantly interfered with the military commanders on the ground and set US policy for engaging the enemy. US military forces could not cross into North Vietnam where the enemy trained and organized their forces. They could not attack enemy supply routes in Cambodia and Laos. They could not even bomb military targets in North Vietnam without politicians criticizing tactics. Eventually, politicians and the press conspired to prevent the American military from achieving a final victory and they were forced to withdraw ignominiously. Ultimately, politicians shamefully withdrew funding for the South Vietnamese government and ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) forces were overrun by North Vietnamese troops and tanks which were funded by the Soviet Union and Communist China. Millions of South Vietnamese and Cambodians were either slaughtered, imprisoned or forced to flee from their birthplace. The goal of the North Vietnamese government to take over the entire country and spread communism throughout the region, a goal which they had since the end of World War II, was achieved, thanks in great part to American politicians. The same scenario is unfolding today in regards to Iraq. Politicians who voted for military intervention in Iraq are now claiming they were misled into their vote or are twisting the intent of their vote, claiming it was not a vote to authorize the war, merely permission for the president to use the military "if necessary". They now claim it wasn't necessary. You see, armchair generals are also Monday morning quarterbacks and no one rewrites history better than an American politician. Every Commander in Chief, going all the way back to General George Washington had to battle with politicians to effectively wage war.

Getting back to federal health care, I do not want the government involved in anything as important as issues of life and death - especially my life and death. If government health care were so great, why do millions of people from Canada, Europe and other socialist countries come to our country for critical care? Why do patients from those countries have to wait six months for a CAT scan or sit for hours in an overcrowded lobby, similar to our DMV facilities, to receive critical medical attention? America leads the world in innovative medical procedures and drug development. It is because we rely on private enterprise that we are so successful. I do not want to take a number should I ever need an emergency appendectomy. I do not want a politician in the operating room. I want less government - not more government control of my life.