Kind of a myopic way of solving problems, Ray. You think we should reinvent the wheel because something another country tries is Socialism? We have Socialism here! This nation does not, nor has it ever engaged in pure, laissez faire Capitalism. There have always been restriction on, and favors granted to business.
Yes we do have socialism here, and where has it gotten us besides 20 trillion in debt and growing? At this point, let me quote James Madison:
"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution that grants Congress the right, of expending on articles benevolence, the money of their constituents."
James Madison, annals of Congress, 1794
Now where would our country be financially if we just adhered to the words of Madison? After all, what is most of our budget? it's benevolence.
If,all the other industrialized nations enjoy single payer health care, the threat of Socialism would suggest that those nations also have failing economies. Well, that sure isn't the case.
It's more than just economy. It's getting the most advanced healthcare that we have here. It's getting timely healthcare. It's getting choice in healthcare. Some countries use cancer drugs we quit using 20 years ago because of there ineffectiveness.
I'm a truck driver and living up north, I talk to Canadian truck drivers all the time. The younger and middle-aged drivers love their system in Canada. The older ones have told me to keep what we have, or we will be sorry when we get older.
Every system has it's faults. You can't pretend that there is any system out there that doesn't have it's faults.
Guns? America is unique in that we have a deep and entrenched culture of guns. That and the Conservatives unyielding read of the second amendment prevents us from really dealing with the epidemic of havoc so many guns produce.
And yet our violent crime and gun crime has been on the decrease since the early 90's. But to a liberal, if it's not broke, fix it anyway.
And why is mass transit such a terrible thing to be feared? If I could hop a bullet train in Pittsburgh, arrive in Cleveland an hour later, watch the Steelers beat up on the Browns and still have time for Sunday dinner at home, I'd do it every year.
Are you not confident enough in the resiliency of America so you fear any other alternative?
I have no problem with that provided this mass transit system was not supported by tax dollars, but most all of them are. That's because it's a bad investment. There are not enough people like you to support mass transit so they rely on taxpayer dollars to support it because most people don't want it.