Laboratories of democracy

Wisconsin has an insane idea for universal health care. It would cost "an estimated $15.2 billion, or $3 billion more than the state currently collects in all income, sales and corporate income taxes." But let them go ahead and try it:

The fall of the Soviet Union deprived us of the biggest example of how socialism works. We need laboratories of failure to demonstrate what socialism is like. All we have now is Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, the U.S. Post Office, and state motor-vehicle departments.

It's not enough. Wisconsin can show the other 49 states what "universal" coverage is like.

That's a sarcastic diatribe from an opponent of such big government, but there's a point in there for everybody. We have, on paper at least (you remember that piece of paper called the Constitution), a federalist system. That should mean that, instead of dictates from the central government, each state tries to be a laboratory of democracy. Let each state try to find what works, then the 49 others can emulate the experiments that succeed and avoid the ones that fail.