I agree with the OP. I think our society doesn't get that a healthy population is similar to an educated population. Reduces the cost to society in the long run. I think our lives in the US being lived with the constant beat of capitalism and independence in our ear makes us believe in short term things and quick fixes. Its like running a factory. If you only wait until things break to fix them, you will always have broken parts. That will cost you a ton of money and the repair people will continue to raise the price as repair goes from service to a needed commodity. Instead, you create a team, or hire a team that does preventative maintenance. Yes, you hate to pay it monthly, but it prevents a lot of problems in the long run.
Yes, I think it is pretty close to being that simple. I would however add that the problem with gun laws is that they are never allowed to really work. I understand the concept of states rights, but when one state has certain rules and another have different rules, it will always be hard to enforce anything. I know you will never take guns away from people(as if people could really hold off an alien invasion, our military or the Mexican drug cartels from taking over your hood if they forced their way in) but to continue to act like easy access to devices only made to kill doesn't mean anything to these situations is just ridiculous.
Which leads to another part of the problem. The American attitude. Our negativity towards the imperfect. Our race to haves and have nots. I will leave that to that as the semester just ended and I don't want to be philosophical until next semester.