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What makes anyone think that the federal government can do anything efficiently and within budget?

Consider Medicare, the Post Office, and even the IRS, which is guilty of more unaccounted-for money than any other bureau. And now they want to take on health care for everyone. It will prove to be a sink-hole of mismanaged money, and intrusive government regulations in our most private affairs.

Congressman John Salazar said there are 800,000 people in Colorado alone who do not have health insurance. How can the proponents of federal health care possibly imagine that they are going to save money by adding all of them, plus the hundreds of thousands in other states, to the public larder? Your taxes will escalate to pay, not only for our poor, but for legal and illegal immigrants.

Can you imagine what will happen when all those hundreds of thousands of people are added to the health care system? There will be lines of people on waiting lists to see a doctor or other professional. We will all be equally miserable - except for the elite in Washington.

The people who will wait the longest will be the old people, who don't have much more to contribute to society anyway. They will be scheduled to attend mandatory counseling sessions every five years (more often if they are seriously ill) so they will realize that they should not be a burden to their families or to society. The sessions will help them choose to refuse treatment and just stop being a burden.

At the other end of the human spectrum from the old ones are the babes in the womb. These innocents are targeted by the proposed healthcare plan. Abortion across the board will be provided by your tax dollars.

Doctor and Congressman Ron Paul has a better idea, as displayed on his Web site: "Healthcare should not be left up to the HMOs, big drug companies and government officials in suits, but rather giving the doctors the power to make the decisions. Letting the doctors call the shots in Paul's eyes would mean giving them the freedom to collectively negotiate with insurance companies to supposedly lower the cost of medical care. He also advocates for reforming licensing requirements to allow nurses and doctors to perform more basic functions, increasing access to care and again lowering costs."

Tort reform also would lower medical costs, because it would protect health care professionals from outrageous lawsuits without having to pay for the high-priced insurance they have to buy now.

Let's face it. Big government involved in our private lives always is bad. Let the people in Washington abide by the Constitution, and stay out of decisions ought to be made by the states, counties, cities and individuals. The people in Washington (and even in Denver) have no idea what is best for us here in Craig. Let's tell them so.

Rosemary Potter