Why Communism, Single Payer and the Post Office Suck

Why Communism, Single Payer and the Post Office Suck

Have you ever dealt with a Postal employee who acted like a temperamental artist tormented by his greatness? You’re meant to feel small in the presence of his being – privileged if he will even acknowledge your measly existence. Why does this happen? It is because this apparatchik has absolute power over one aspect of your life. He and his gang of postal Mafioso delivery men and women make you an offer you cannot refuse. Only they can legally deliver your first class mail and if you don’t like the service you can stick your letter right up your...well – I guess you get the picture.

It’s the same way with communism. Communism is your entire world being run by post offices. You will take what you get and like it! Or at the very least you’d better not complain within earshot of the lucky guys making everybody’s decisions for them. But people cannot live like that. It is why Cubans are dying (in the Straits of Florida) to escape Cuba.

Then Michael Moore goes and asserts that a single payer, government manipulated, health care system is the only way to go because we can’t trust capitalism and the profit motive to provide for our health care. His assertion is that we would be better off with a centrally planned post office type system for our vital medical needs. BULL!!!

Let me tell you boys and girls a little story about a thing we call, “the free market.” Where ever “the free market” is not blocked by government, or at least not regulated and taxed to death, an amazing thing happens. The prices seem to keep falling while the quality and service rise. Take my experience with Verizon. Remember the “one ringy dingy” days of the Ma Bell phone system? You took what you got and Ma Bell rationed phone service out like it was a rare, precious commodity that would soon run out in the world if we didn’t conserve. Today there are a wide and growing number of providers offering us all a variety of communication methods. Still, Verizon is the only company that offers fiber optics in my area. So when they said I had to wait 3 weeks to hook me up in the new house I agreed. Then they blew two installation dates and failed to return two calls as promised. Sure I realize they are a big company relying on a contractor who said he ran the cable under the road and up to my house last Friday – but didn’t. Then they told me they would pencil me in for October 2 to get me hooked up. That’s when I read them the “free market riot act.” I said very politely, “Listen up because this IS how it is going to be. I am giving you these choices. You make the call. I have spent a fortune taking my family out to watch the Redskin game in sports bars and also doing my Blogtalk Internet broadcast from O’Brien’s Pub because I’ve had no service. Therefore, if you can get me hooked up this week I’ll only want one month’s free service as compensation. However, if you fail to do so by this weekend I am going to require another free month of service and an additional month of free service for every weekend that I do not have this cable connected to my computers and TV. That means you can go ahead and wait until October 2 to get around to my home. But I do not expect a bill until after the first of the year. Now if these terms are unacceptable I understand completely. I will cancel your TV service and the phone service too. You can hook up the fiber optic cable for my internet service whenever you want. I’ll get Phonage and let the satellite companies fight for my service.” He said he would call back. This time he did rather promptly and asked, “Would tomorrow be acceptable for installation?”

My point is Verizon doesn’t love me. I’m sure there are some there who now kind of hate me. They didn’t suddenly develop higher business ethics or want to just do the right thing. They were going to lose $100 a month after spending all that money to run the cable right up to my house. Plus they knew damn well I had alternatives like demanding compensation if they were going to take more time and replacing their service with other alternatives if they didn’t agree. Why do fools like Michael Moore believe that one service or product provider could ever do what many providers can do? Has there ever been a case where a monopoly has given you more for less? Let’s not kids ourselves however about the motives of business. They do not love us – they love our money. Fair enough...because I love many of their goods and services but not necessarily they themselves either.

The solution to all of our needs is to just have more choices. In my perfect world a laborer gets to keep all of his hard earned efforts and is allowed the choice of how to spend them. He can spend them if he chooses in a free marketplace devoid of government enforced monopolies like the Post Office, cable companies or the old Ma Bell phone company. His sales and purchases are not taxed to death by the heavy hand of the state. Finally, he lives on a planet where humans cannot earn other’s wealth by monopolizing space on Earth and holding it out of production merely for speculative profit. Monopoly is a great game...but it’s a hell of a thing to actually allow in society and hope it is going to make things better. We’ve been doing it this way for all of recorded history people. There is still a great deal of poverty and in case you haven’t noticed it is places where there are the fewest choices, i.e. Cuba, North Korea, Zimbabwe, etc., which are the poorest. Interestingly, even in those poor countries the guys like Fidel Castro who do have many choices always seem to become very rich themselves. Oh by the way Michael Moore...Verizon is here hooking me up right now. Eat crow!!!