This whole debate will become impossible once we have in any way nationalized healthcare. Say you have a big problem with the situation of US healthcare and want to fine tune it then? Immeasurably more difficult once it has become a national institution. I have just had the most acrimonious debates with British friends who I am now finding out regard their NHS as a genuine national treasure, indeed they used precisely that term. These are good people, close friends, but they simply cannot think analytically about the state of their health care system now that it is unpatriotic even to criticize it. Hence, to Wretchard’s point, once a system become nationalized there another interest group, and much the largest, that makes clear transparent debate impossible: the general public that pours its legitimate love of nation and native culture into the national health system.

Ask an American about the US health care situation and he may have a strong opinion, but the idea that criticizing it is in any way un-American would seem ludicrous, even to the most libertarian minded of us. But a thoughtful, well educated Briton? You will find yourself suddenly in a bizarro-world where logic and rational argument are simply irrelevant, and emotion rules. Aint no way you gonna tear that security blanket off!

This is so sad for another bigger reason we can’t get into here, but since when did health care trump football, British rock, and the Queen as something worth fighting about? This suggests to me that nationalized healthcare has itself had a significant role in attenuating British culture. This most important argument is also the hardest to make in a rigorous fashion, but let’s not ignore it (although I’m sure nobody here would).