I forgot to say (sorry, got side tracked by a multitasking failure —it's 6ish in the morning here) that on the whole, all things being equal, I agree that public services should be provided for and managed by the government. Otherwise, they should stop taking my and everyone else's money.

That said, I think it's clear (at least to me) that this situation we're in with partisan politics, corruption, and special interests playing the wizard behind the curtain is not going to resolve easily or anytime soon.

That means, if you want any of those things, you have to provide or build them yourself. Certainly other means than relying on the government, not that you can't use the government.

The flip side of that, is that maybe having so many options keeps enough people from becoming discontent enough to force change.