I may have mentioned this before, but I sometimes post (mostly lurk) on a "Frugal Living" forum. A lot of the people on the forum seem to be in VERY reduced circumstances - barely making it. Somebody posted that they were very congested and had been suffering from bronchitis, and they were afraid they were going into pneumonia. But they had no insurance and couldn't afford to go to the doctor, so did anybody have any home remedies? Several people posted suggestions ranging from chicken soup to inhaling steam, extra rest, lots of fluids, etc. I posted something along the lines of "It's a shame that in a country such as ours, which SHOULD have the resources to provide health care to its citizens, someone should not be able to go to the doctor and take care of a potentially serious medical condition, because there is no affordable way for the to do it."

The only reactions I got, from these people who for the most part couldn't afford to go to the doctor or buy medical insurance, was "we wouldn't want to live in a country that had socialized medicine!" and "The countries that have socialized medicine have very high taxes and the medical care is terrible, we wouldn't want that here". And the moderators chastized me for making political statements on the forum.

So I shut up then. Truly a large part of the American public is brainwashed!