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From Overcoming Bias, the idea of Loving Cranks To Death. Read the whole thing, then come back here.

The concluding point is this: "The strongest argument for socialized medicine is the strongest argument for socialized religion, that government provision seems to reduce enthusiasm for and consumption of such things. Western Europe seems to have hit on the clever solution of loving both religion and medicine to death. Should we consider loving other cranks to death?" Like palm readers, UFO speculators, etc.

It's an interesting thought, although I assume the author doesn't mean to label private health care providers as cranks. Also, I can think of a region with high levels of state-religion overlap and high levels of religiosity (Middle East & North Africa), so there's more going on here. And it's also the case that those of us living with public health programs only avoid using them because the waiting list to see anyone with medical training is a decade-long. But nevermind that; let's play with this idea. If it's true, could we also apply it to...

The War On Drugs? The Economist has just re-asserted its argument that a state-regulated drug trade is worth a shot. Maybe our youth will stop using narcotic substances so frequently if they have to register at a government-owned pharmacy. Besides, the taxes on the stuff could offset the cost of that new health care system: win-win.

Economics? A tried and true method of discrediting crank economic theories is to adopt them as official government policy for an extended period of time. The Victorian-era of pure market discipline helped set us up for the Great Depression and feed revolutionary Marxist ideology. The post-war spin-offs of Keynesianism that tried to fine-tune the economy and create permanent full employment instead gave us inflation, crazy-high interest rates and an exported debt crisis to Latin America. Next on the list was the Efficient Market Hypothesis, "light-touch" government regulation, and the rocket-science wizard-mathematics of derivative trading. Discredited, discredited, discredited.

So which crank theories are up next?