Welcome to the brave new world of John Edwards.

One of the dirty little secrets of the debate over health insurance is that around 15 million younger adults choose not to carry any. Never fear, John Edwards will save these miscreants from their own folly by garnishing their wages and forcing them into his planned universal health care nightmare:

Under the Edwards plan, when Americans file their income taxes, they would be required to submit a letter from an insurance provider confirming coverage for themselves and their dependents. If someone did not submit proof of coverage, the Internal Revenue Service would notify a newly established regional or state-based health-care agency (which Edwards has dubbed a Health Care Market).

These bureaucrats would then determine just what sort of plan your family should have:

If the individual was not eligible for either of those existing public programs, the regional-health care agency would enroll the individual into the lowest cost health-care plan available in that area. The lowest-cost option could be a new Medicare-like public option or a private insurance plan. The newly covered individual would not only have access to health benefits but would also be responsible for making monthly payments with the help of a tax credit.

But what happens if you'd rather spend that monthly payment on something else? Say a couple of movies or a real cool video game?

If a person did not meet his or her monthly financial obligation for a set period of time (perhaps a year, perhaps longer) the Edwards plan would empower the federal government to garnish an individual's wages for purposes of collecting "back premiums with interest and collection costs." The process, according to the Edwards campaign, would resemble the process used to collect money from Americans who are delinquent on federal student loans or child support payments.

I am seriously beginning to question where John Edwards grew up. Someone should investigate his life story because only someone who matured under a dictatorship would have the imagination to come up with such a draconian, oppressive, un-American solution to the problem of health insurance.

Thank God he has as much chance of becoming president as I do of starting at Quarterback for the Bears this Sunday.