To Want or Not Want Government Care?

[Flelm]

Disclaimer, I did not watch the OP's video, and I did not read that rambling rant from Elon Musk. I'm not entirely sure why I'm posting this here, but I want to get it off my chest.

I used to be a libertarian, when I was just starting to get interested in politics, in late high school (the start of the 2000s). I thought it was a great philosophy:

Everyone pays for what they need and no more. All are equal before the law, and opportunities are open to all equally. The free market will allow good companies to thrive, and bad companies will be punished by the will of the customers, so there's no need for regulation. If the existing sources of supply aren't good enough, the market will ensure that someone else will take up the mantle and start a company doing it better, smarter, faster, cheaper, and more responsibly. Do what you will, as long as you don't harm others.

Then I got older, and I realized there were problems with that philosophy. First, it only works if everyone is an intelligent, rational thinker, with unlimited time and resources to research and make decisions. Which company has the smallest carbon footprint per unit produced? Who has the plants that pollute the least? What's the cost/benefit tradeoff? Second, it assumes that everyone is starting from, more or less, a place of equality, which is not true. The more money your parents have, on average, the more money you will make. Socioeconomic indicators show that the rich get richer, and those in poverty have an extremely difficult time escaping. Finally, it assumes that everyone is honest. It has no provision for lies, or hiding information, or obscuring/obfuscating practices.

The purpose of our (I agree, extremely broken!) government is not to turn a profit. The purpose of our government is to create and maintain a functioning society that's fair to all its members (see: the social contract). Why does keeping our citizenry healthy need to be profitable? Should it be efficient, sure. Is the current system efficient? Hell no. But I disagree that giving it to private companies, with little to no regulation is the solution. When given the chance, odds are that companies will choose to achieve a higher profit over enriching the public good. I'd rather cut our massive, oversized, ridiculous defense budget, eliminate the amount of money private citizens are spending on healthcare, and redirecting that through the government. Every study I've seen suggests that a single payer or universal healthcare system is more cost effective, and more importantly, will save people's lives that otherwise wouldn't be saved.

Solutions? I don't know. Our government is broken at a fundamental level. Hypocrisy abounds, and tribalism trumps public service and decency. Cooperation and changing your mind is seen as a sign of weakness, not a sign of wisdom. I'm rambling. I hope I got my point across.