Real socialized medicine would be a big improvement over our current system of corporate state socialized medicine; aka socialism for the rich and free enterprise for the poor - where our main social safety network is a prison cell (if you're poor).

The freedom of the 1880's frontier is disappearing and I for one detest it. But, the current system of repugocrat ostrich politics will begin to disintegrate as the baby boomers start to retire around 2010 and they discover that there is no money for medicare, let alone social security. The revolutionary zeal of the 60's, if not its Marcusian mish-mash ideology will, as you say, eliminate the USA, as we currently know it. Not sure what will replace it, other than all of you guys younger than the baby boomers can count on paying for it... through the nose.