[Blarg]

I know I do.

I grew up knowing many people from Europe, being a naturalized citizen myself, and despite the mantra you always hear from politicians that U.S. healthcare is the "envy of the world," I've never met a German, Frenchman, Brit, or any European I can recall speaking to about it, or any Canadian either, that had anything close to envy of our health care system here. Quite the opposite, and usually dramatically so, was the absolute rule. They thought it was cruel, cheap, and all kinds of foolish. When they wanted to go to the doctor, they went, and they didn't have problems doing it either.

In a way, America's huge size and isolation -- being bordered by only two countries -- really stifles the amount of information flow we have with the rest of the world, and our exposure to different people and ways of thinking and living. We can often be very self-absorbed and provincial. In Europe, you can drive 100 miles and pass through three countries and multiple languages(sometimes within the same country). In California, you can drive that far and still be in the same County, and essentially feel like you're in the same place with the same people.