A friend just got out of 8-1/2 hours of cancer surgery

[SunSeeker]

15. No, he did not talk about it until he turned blue.

He did like talking about single payer in Vermont---until they put a price tag on it. When they determined that Vermont single payer would require a new 12% tax on the middle class, Bernie clammed up--as did all the other politicians who saw such a tax hike as politically toxic. No one had the guts to defend this perfectly reasonable tax--not even the socialist! No one had the guts to point out that people would still save money on healthcare even with this tax, since they would no longer need to pay premiums or co-pays, nor invest hours of their time filling out insurance forms.

Yes, we are a backwater, because even our socialists don't have the guts to defend taxes that pay for a civilized society.