"Listening to Republicans, it's apparent they don't have much respect for the intelligence of the American people.

"Over 70 percent of Americans want a national health care system like every other developed country in the world has, but the GOP tells us that we just aren't smart enough to make it work. It'll be too confusing and complex for average Americans, they say, and, besides that, if the government "takes over" our health care system, we're on our way to tyranny.

"About two-thirds of Americans think that we should have free college education for anybody intellectually capable of attending, and free trade schools as well-like pretty much every other developed country in the world (and quite a few of the developing countries).

"Republicans tell us that we can't use government funds to pay off our nation's $1.5 trillion in student debt because we just borrowed that exact amount last year to give tax rebates to billionaires, so there's nothing left. We're just not smart enough to fix the problem."

• Thom Hartmann