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"The most expensive choice is to do nothing," Gov. Bill Richardson said, and with that, he asked the Legislature to pass a universal health care plan.

Universal. Health. Care. The words trip off the tongues of liberals like nursery rhymes from the mouths of babes.

We hadn't even adjusted to the idea that Lt. Gov. Diane Denish was finished with temporarily running the state, when Richardson returned from his presidential race and reacquainted us with the grandiosity that brought us the New Mexico Rail Runner Express and the spaceport.

At last count, the Rail Runner was choo-chooing to the tune of $400 million. When we couldn't afford to be without a rapid transit system from Bernalillo to Belen, it was purported to cost only $190 million.

And lest we forget, the governor and another famous progressive, Richard Branson, teamed to create our first launchpad not run by the federal government. Spaceport America was created with handshakes and smiles — and a request that the residents of southern New Mexico pay for it by raising their taxes.

Doña Ana County voted to do just that by the overwhelming margin of 50.4 percent for, 49.6 percent against — or, curiously enough, roughly the same margin that carried the 2003 raid on the state's Permanent Fund. But, well, that's a checkbook of another color.

For the record, few, if any, people in the country want anyone to be without health care. Poll Americans and ask them if they believe their friends and neighbors should receive good health services. Surprisingly, few of us want our fellows to languish away in misery. However, that is a far cry from thinking we all want to pay for universal health care.

Richardson noted that nearly 20 percent of New Mexicans — a rate that is second only to Texas — are uninsured. But little is known about those numbers — and, no, it's not enough to say they're uninsured and we need to insure them.

As hard as it might be to believe or understand, some people opt not to carry health insurance. Young singles and young couples historically pass on enrolling in company-offered plans, because in their minds they're basically immortal. Others are often in transition from one job to another and from one coverage to another.

Still, these are numbers the governor didn't offer. And given the amount of time he's been gone lately, one must wonder what numbers he is going to offer. I suspect that he's done little research — projected costs, etc. — but realizes this is a headline-grabbing issue.

As one pundit noted following the presidential candidates' gay-lesbian debate — not the governor's best — Richardson had been "flying by the seat of his pants during these (debates), and it caught up with him." One gets the sense he's flying again.

We've been served platitudes aplenty from this administration, and we have the train and spaceport to prove it. Universal health care is far more than a joy ride into space or a dash to Belen on a four-car train.