DevsAdvocate

"Hey Reddit, anyone want to fake the death of a gay guy to troll some Westboro Baptists?" - I'd hate to use someone's real death for such a purpose.

I can easily understand it: we're a nation founded on a distrust of Government and its spending habits (I've seen crack whores with better ones).

For one thing, we have been wary of a strong central government, so much so that our first attempt at building the country, we relied on the Articles of Confederation, which is sorta how the EU is today. Each State was a sovereign entity, but the central government depended on their voluntary contribution and compliance to function. It took lasted from 1781 to 1789, and was replaced because the States were facing rebellion due to poor economic conditions and protests against taxes.

Even when the US did create a central Government with the US Constitution, it was severely limited in its power, not just by the Bill of Rights and its inherent constraints, but by the States and People too. No one trusted the folks in NYC, Philly, and then DC with their own local problems.

The Federal Government we know of today, which is accepted to be strong and do-all is a relatively recent invention starting with the New Deal in the early 20th century, and even that is hotly disputed by the States and the voters.

So... basically, Americans would rather have an imperfect free-market solution than a purely government one because they don't trust the government. Frankly, the only reason health insurance in the United States sucks is because of the meddling by the Federal Government.

Why?

• Barriers to interstate insurance policies
• Unfunded requirements for hospitals to treat everyone without payment
• Incentivizing the bundling of employee pay and benefits to contain health insurance. This means when you lose your job, you will lost your insurance.

Engineering related question: thus far you've made parts for existing firearms patterns like the AR-15... however, wouldn't it make sense to build a firearm which can make the most of the strengths of a 3D printed material? Designed in such a way to reduce stresses and improve longevity and durability?

I believe that as long as you are going to try to replicate existing firearms which rely on other materials, you won't be tapping the potential of building one from the ground up to be 3D printed.

For example: a 3D printed handgun that can use existing barrels (like a Glock barrel), and action, and 3D printed magazines.

The way I've always seen it, the best way to rank healthcare systems is:

1. Purely free-marked - little to no government intervention on any level. Profit motive and and competition would drive down costs and improve service. Health insurance would become competitive in a way like Car insurance.

2. Socialized medicine - lower costs, but you'll have rationed care.

3. Current system - high cost all around and your care still gets rationed.