[Congressman Billybob]

I was a child when Dr. Salk solved the problem of a vaccine for polio. I remember getting the shots as a teenager. Later, I served on the Board of the Leukemia Society of America. They sponsored basic research in that disease the same way the March of Dimes did for polio.

The money was raised by private, voluntary donations. Then, a knowledgeable Board, guided by the advice of doctors experienced in the field, that money was spent on the most promising research proposals of the hundreds that were presented for consideration. (Most leukemia patients are now "cured" as opposed to most dying quickly of their disease, when I first went on that Board.)

This was NOT "socialized medicine." It was intelligent, capable private charity, for which America is renowned.

John / Billybob

[Glenn]

This was NOT "socialized medicine."

Is that true of the world effort? Did the donations of America eradicate smallpox and Polio? Were the cures patented? Should cures be patentable?

I'd be interested in a Franklin answer to today's problems, is the point.