by Devin Holdraker

Let me start out by saying I think the government, in general, is bloated, inefficient and likely full of waste.

That belief is what led me to become a Republican two decades ago. I want a limited federal government, states rights to deal with their own state, and balanced budgets that wouldn’t run up our national debt or overly tax an already stressed middle class.

These days I don’t know what the GOP leadership stands for other than blindly supporting an aging narcissist. Trying to have rational conversations with fellow republicans these days often turns into them beating their chests with the same false bravado that powers our commander and chief. I’m called a RINO (Republican in name only) or a Democrat, all for not whole-heartedly supporting this administration and the way it chooses to conduct itself.

No, this won’t be a Trump bashing tirade. Let’s get back to government waste and bureaucracy. I’m guessing most of you agree on that, so bear with me for just a minute as I go on a rant about why the government needs to take over for the private sector.

Wait, I said bear with me, where are you going? Come back! 

The number one cause of personal bankruptcy in the United States is medical debt. Healthcare is often the third rail of politics alongside Social Security. These days it’s certainly the elephant in the room. 

The average premium for employer-sponsored healthcare for a family was nearly $27,000/year as of December 2025. That doesn’t include deductibles which tend to be an additional several thousands of dollars a year for most. Let’s call it a cool $30k.

While something like “Medicare for all” sounds awfully expensive and would certainly raise your taxes, the alternative is average Americans spending $30,000 a year to private companies who each realize billions of dollars a year in profit.

The system is beyond broken. According to the federal government’s own data, we will spend an estimated $42.9 trillion on health care over the next decade.

Alternatively, a Medicare like system that would cover every American is estimated to actually save between $2-$5 trillion over the same time period. Would there be layers of bureaucracy and waste? Of course. But our current healthcare system has plenty of both.

My question is how did we get here in the first place? Why did simply staying alive become a profitable business instead of a common sense general good type thing we can all get behind?

Smarter people than me have been debating this since long before I was born. But it seems like we already decided some things are important enough to have the government involved. 

So where is the line?

One could make these types of arguments for many things. That’s likely how we’ve become [checks notes] $38.5 trillion in debt. But it’s time to reevaluate what constitutes public good. Roads and bridges? Public good. Utilities? Public good. Healthcare? Yep, you guessed it. It’s good for everyone. Everyone except the people whose livelihood depends on privatization. They will need to tighten their belts as they’ve told us to do for so many years. Fewer islands. Only one private jet.

Did you know private jets are 100% tax deductible now? I digress.

I still want a limited federal government, but I also believe that government can solve problems and serve the public good in ways private industry never has and never will. I’m all for capitalism and profits, but there’s some places where business doesn’t belong.

I’ll wrap it up by admitting I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know how we pay for everything without continuing to add debt or over taxing average Americans. But simply going with what hasn’t been working isn’t the way forward. I know we can do better.

So maybe we start with a conversation. Picture this: Politicians… from both sides… come together and actually do something. They could sit in a big building and debate the big issues instead of continually getting stuck in the mud over who’s to blame for yesterday’s problems.

In a time of politically charged rhetoric and partisan bickering, can’t we all unite behind this? Can we all unite around anything anymore?

Time will tell.

**************************

I will be alternating columns with my dad moving forward, so if you were wondering what I’m doing here, that’s the deal.

Real Times aficionados will remember I wrote a column for our mid-week digital edition several years ago.

No? Well I did.

If you have questions, comments, or  want to call me a democrat (I might be), I can be reached at dholdraker@waynetimes.com.

My dad will continue to do the "Thumbs up/Thumbs down" feature and will return to this space next week.