There was a moment in the last debate between John McCain and Barack Obama when the Republican candidate took Obama to task for his health care plan, calling it a "single payer system." "If you like that, you'll love Canada and England," McCain shot.

I would love Canada and England! I recently left my cushy job with benefits to hit the freelance lifestyle, with its attendant flexibility in spending waking hours with my three young children. I'm the primary breadwinner in my household, to boot, so I've been hemming and hawing over what I need in my budget. Cable's out, and I'm considering saying goodbye to the Blackberry (ohhh!). We don't drive, but I have a little in the budget for bike lights and the occasional replacement inner tube. I'll be honest: I wasn't thinking that much about health care costs. Maybe it was one of those fingers-in-the-ears moments, squeezing my eyes shut and saying "nahnahnahnahnah!" every time the topic came up.

I got my COBRA paperwork today, and just for health care, I'd be spending $1,036 a month; more than my mortgage payment (if you exclude taxes). I wrote about this on a local mamas' site, threatening to go without insurance and pay out of pocket for well baby visits and such, and was immediately begged (literally "please please PLEASE") to buy health insurance. I started griping about the costs and the cheated feeling I have: essentially I'm being asked to pay thousands each year to protect me from total bankruptcy, should there be a health crisis in my family. Tracy Coenen suggested I post here about what I'd like instead.

It turns out, neither Obama's nor McCain's plan would be ideal (though, for the record, McCain's would be completely unhelpful, especially for parents who work for small businesses). Instead, here is how I'd structure the health care system:

When I was a kid, my mother taught me that politics and religion were two subjects that one should never discuss. Unfortunately, those were always my two favorites. In the grand scheme of things, they strike me as the only two topics that really are worthy of continued, sustained discussion and reflection over the course of a lifetime. While I'm sure that there are people who are still talking about the Reuben Stoddard/Clay Aiken showdown of a couple of years ago, I would have to say that American Idol, Iron Man, and even the return of Indiana Jones must always take a back seat to the great battle between conservatism and liberalism and the question of free will.

For this reason, I particularly love Presidential election years, as it seems like it's the only time when it's socially acceptable to talk politics. Most of the time, people throw out a few questions to subtly suss out their conversational partner's political beliefs. If the two people agree, then the conversation rolls right along as they trade attacks on the demon candidate du jour. If not, conversation usually moves on to safer waters.

During election years, though, it seems like we all have an excuse for having tough talks about our hopes for the future, where we believe the country is headed, and all that fun stuff. Better yet, we get to sport T-shirts, bumper stickers, signs, tattoos, and assorted other paraphernalia that shows off our political beliefs. Recently, I discovered some particularly fun campaign swag. While the more staid among us are sporting mature, adult Obama and McCain buttons, the "McCain/Methuselah 2008: Why waste over 2000 years of experience?" pin really gave me a huge smile. And, to be honest, I felt a funny little tickle when I saw the "Obama: the Audacity of Inexperience" items at Cafe Press. Of course, if you really want to slip off the radar, you could go with "Chelsea in '16: The Pantsuits Have Been Passed to a New Generation."

While the pins are a lot of fun, my favorite souvenir in this election cycle has been the Presidential condoms. Practice Safe Policy is selling Obama and McCain condoms. The Obama-lactic states that one should "Use with good judgment," while the McCain membrane notes that it's "Old but not expired." The sheaths are priced at $9.95 for two, which seems fairly expensive. However, nobody ever said that Free Speech was cheap!

Bruce Watson is a freelance writer, blogger, and all-around cheapskate. It was incredibly hard for him to avoid slipping into shallow, puerile puns on this post.

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If you're the political type, this is a great season for stocking up on free bumper stickers.

MoveOn.org - one of the most loved and hated political groups in the country -- is offering free copies of its "Bush's Third Term: McCain" bumper sticker.

That referring to McCain as a third term of President Bush is seen as obviously negative is a testament to how low his approval ratings have fallen. If you're one of the few die hard Bush fans left you could slap this one on your car to show your support but most people would assume you're an Obama supporter.

Does anybody remember when U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz said that the war in Iraq would pay for itself? Specifically, their argument was that oil revenues in Iraq would easily pay for the cost of reconstruction, and that the bill wouldn't be laid on the American taxpayer.

Admittedly, this was five years ago, so it's understandable if our memories might be a little fuzzy on the issue. However, this was the running argument back in 2003.

Of course, this isn't how it's worked out, a fact that becomes crystal clear when we look at how much the U.S. military is paying for gas. Currently, American forces in Iraq are paying an average of $3.23 a gallon for their gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. The Defense Energy Support Center, essentially the fuel wing of the Department of Defense, buys gasoline on the open market at prices ranging from $1.99 a gallon to $5.38 a gallon. They then set a fixed rate for the fuel; thus, as of April 4, American forces in Iraq were paying $3.51/gallon for diesel, $3.15/gallon for gasoline, and $3.04 for jet fuel.

I'm a political junkie.

Mostly, I'm an armchair quarterback. I've only been to one political rally. I've never stuffed envelopes for a candidate. And I'm embarrassed to admit it, but the most I've donated to a campaign has been something like $10. But when it comes to reading political articles and watching the debates, I get pretty fascinated. It doesn't matter whether it's the Democrats or Republicans, I've grown to like something about all of them, and so if there's a debate, I tend to have the television on. If I'm bored, I find myself visiting web sites like Politico.com and RealClearPolitics. Meet the Press? Since that means meeting the politicians, but of course.

I know I'm not alone, and what didn't occur to me until today is when We The People follow politics, we're not just doing our civic duty by being informed on the issues, we're actually helping the economy. Who needs an economic stimulus plan, when we're in the midst of the primary season? This is election isn't just about change -- it's about making change -- the kind that involves pennies, nickels and dimes.