Even with a solid majority in the House and 60 votes in the Senate, Congressional Democrats are having an absurdly difficult time making universal health care a reality.

The principal arguments -- only among Democrats, as Republicans have shown no interest in reforming our out of control "system" -- are over whether "we can afford it," and whether the plan should be more public or more private.

But these aren't really arguments, just excuses. Of course we could afford it. And we could fund our bloated military budget and our wars all at the same time -- and pay down our massive federal debt. All it would take is to raise taxes high enough to accomplish what amounts to doing the right thing -- both budgetwise and morally.

We could also cut the military budget to something less than the military budgets of all the other countries combined, and then fund health care. Or we could reduce retirement and health care benefits for wealthy retirees who don't need them while others are in desperate need.

As to whether it should be more public than private, the answer should be obvious to anyone paying more and more for less and less coverage, just to ensure huge profits for drug companies and for-profit medical groups and organizations.

The current loosely regulated for-profit sector has driven the cost of health care through the roof. That wasn't Medicare or Medicaid. Those low-overhead programs, in fact, have been hurt by soaring

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costs because public funding can never keep pace.

Our marketplace miracle format has made our system the most expensive, least efficient and least just in the industrialized world. That makes arguing for the status quo a sign of moral bankruptcy, especially when 47 million uninsured Americans are considered.

Wake up, Mr. and Mrs. Average American: You are getting the shaft under the current system, pure and simple. You should let those balky Democrats in Congress know how you feel about that.

If we rely on the for-profit model to fix this train wreck, we will get exactly what we deserve. We already have what we have long deserved.