Over the last few weeks, I have enjoyed communicating with a great many people of all political stripes and backgrounds about the health care debate. I have been challenged by excellent arguments from people who are very engaged in the political process. I would like here to argue that while the cost of implementing a public insurance option should be scrutinized and debated, such an option will not change the fabric of who we are as Americans, as some have argued.

I believe in a government that should do no more than protect the public good where individuals are unable to do so. One of the clearest examples of this is the providing of our national defense. We have a fully government run military. Our military is "socialized" by the standard placed on health care in that each of us pays taxes to pay for a system that is run by the government for all of our benefit. The same could be said of our fire departments and our police departments. They are taxpayer funded, run by the government, and available to everyone regardless of wealth, citizenship, or political views. I do not hire a private company to pick up my trash. That would be far more inefficient than simply paying taxes and waiting for the government to pick up my trash. These are pure public systems for the most part.

Some of our systems have a public private hybrid system. Our education system is a good example. Each child in this country is provided, at tax payer expense, a school to attend for twelve grades. But some people choose not to send their children to public schools. They choose the private option and send their kids to private or parochial schools. But make no mistake, the public option helps control the costs of private education from spiraling out of control. Imagine a school system with no public option. Every parent wanting their child to be educated would be bidding for a spot in the private school system. It is also fair to point out that the private school system helps the public system control its costs by reducing the amount of children that the public system needs to educate.

And it’s not just K through 12 education that enjoys this symbiotic public private relationship. Our university system contains great universities both purely for profit, and partially government funded to reduce costs. Indeed, one of the most unheralded accomplishments of the O’Malley Administration has been its ability, despite all of the economic pressures, to keep tuition throughout the University of Maryland system from increasing during his tenure.

Even as we sit here today, our health care system has a large public influence. Medicare is the primary source of medical benefits for many Americans over 65 or with certain disabilities and conditions. It too has had charges of socialism and communism hurled at it through the years, but has proven a very necessary benefit for a large portion of our population. The Veterans Administration provided public health care to our men and women who have fought for our country.

As I have said, there are legitimate concerns about the affordability of any government health care expansion. Those concerns belong in the debate. But to argue that we are changing the foundations of America doesn’t make sense to me.