Reddnet Scribbles

It has been a while since I’ve gone off on one of my famous rants... so go refill your coffee and enjoy ?

The national healthcare debate here in America has continued well past the typical levels of American political absurdity. It's a mess, and a real solution hasn't appeared anywhere near the table yet.

But the biggest victim of this political fist-fucking so far has been the U.S. Postal Service.

Anytime someone wants to scare you away from a government solution to the terrifying state of healthcare in this country, they dig up the specter of the post office!

"What? Do you really want healthcare to be run like the post office?”

Most people think then of long lines, mail gone missing, and incompetent postal workers... and they answer, "hell no"!

But I say "hell yeah"! Give me a post office for healthcare PLEASE!

For many, the post office is their prime example of a failed socialistic government institution. They often claim that everything is better when the private sector runs it, and some of them go so far as to tell me that the post office is un-American!

These people are either completely ignorant, or obtuse to a degree that borders on criminally insane.

The socialist-commie plot to destroy America through badly implemented mail delivery is written directly into the Constitution of the United States itself. The post office as an organization was put into motion by the very first sitting U.S. congress only 4 months after the adoption of the Constitution.

Did you know that?

I don't want to frighten you... but...

BOOO!

For a really good meat-weight overview of post office history, there is a fantastic article over at about.com that tells the story pretty well.

This country was founded by post-office loving socialists!

Rather than being an example of how government run organizations don't work, the U.S. Postal Service is an example of something that ONLY a government organization could have achieved.

Back when this nation was first founded, few could seriously question the benefits of postal services. The colonies under Britain’s rule had already had a postal system of some sort for over 100 years. The benefits had been proven beyond rational doubt.

With a newfound nation as geographically large as this one, the need for fast and efficient post was absolutely essential to the prosperity of the nation and it’s people.

The task of providing postal services across the vast and untamed wilderness was far beyond the abilities of any regular private business of the time. The risks of establishing a wide-spread postal network were enormous, the costs staggering, and the potential for profit laughable.

There were a number of private courier companies at the time, but they could not operate at the scale and uniformity necessary to bring the full promise of the post to reality.

For the majority of its 230 year history, the post office has been nothing short of amazing, and the overall contributions to both individuals and business have been immeasurable.

Just on the technology side alone, the post office has been essential to nearly every major improvement in transportation that has ever been made. Many organizations private and public alike were involved along we way. Together they built roads, bridges, rail systems, canals, boats, automobiles, trucks, airplanes and everything else that goes along with them.

The post office backed these projects financially, protected them politically, and encouraged the insane pace of growth and innovation. It would not have been possible for a bunch of rebellious east-coast dirt-farmers to become the most powerful nation on earth in less than 200 years without the vital role of the post office.

All through our history, if there was any project related to transportation, large scale logistics, or distance communication you’d find the post office right in the middle of it all... forever pushing for more, better, faster, and cheaper mail delivery.

Some will argue that the superior private sector would have built those things themselves without the evil government’s help... I'm pretty sure that is true too.

But how much longer would it have taken private companies to decide there was a profit potential in building the great rails through the impossible terrain of the wild west absent those lucrative postal contracts?

How long before the great bridges across the mighty Mississippi would be a "sound business investment" on their own?

How many inventions would have died on drawing boards for lack of private funding?

Many of those post office sponsored projects were so far beyond crazy that ONLY a government could possibly have been deranged enough to try them. I mean come on! They even tried to invent missile mail!

Yeah... that’s exactly what it sounds like... letters delivered via missiles! That's the kind of nuts that only government can aspire to.

Without the post office, we might be as far along as the train and early automobiles by now... maybe....

You can argue the benefit vs. drawback of almost any specific government program from income tax to Medicare if you want... But to argue that the U.S. Postal Service is an example of one of the failures is just plain ignorant.

The post office of today has very real problems. But the causes of most of those issues are also recent. The rise of modern electronic communication systems have eroded the underlying need that made the post office the essential service it once was.

The post office still gets by, but it is primarily a small parcel and letter carrier; precisely the kind of enterprise hit hardest by phone, fax, and email.

Even if you have no respect for today’s post office, at least have the decency to give it the credit it deserves for the two centuries of dedicated service that was so essential to the people of this nation!

A lot of people extolling the virtues of capitalism will contrast the post office with FedEx. FedEx is their poster-child for why capitalism rocks.

The story of FedEx is also quite amazing; an inspiring tale of the absolute best that capitalism has to offer A few people with their own absolutely crazy idea that go on create one of the largest business empires on the planet in just a few years.

But! And here is the part where I start to get truly angry...

Anyone that can seriously argue that FedEx is an example of why we don't need government organizations is either too ignorant to be running their mouth or so fucking retarded that I wonder how they avoid drowning when it rains.

FedEx is probably the best example anyone could find anywhere for EXACTLY why government programs and organizations are essential to the very existence of that healthy modern capitalistic free-market everyone is so damned proud of!

Who do you think built the highways and roads that FedEx trucks use to affordably pickup and deliver those packages? The interstate highway system was a hotly debated socialistic government program.

The United States Military, the Borg Collective of socialistic government organizations, has been responsible for literally EVERY significant aerospace engineering advancement since the airplane was invented... they even funded the Wright Brother themselves. How would FedEx compete without that massive fleet of modern high-tech jet planes?

How about the airports? Where would those FedEx planes land without them? The government, largely prompted by the U.S. Post Office, was responsible for establishing the nationwide network of coordinated high-capacity civilian airports.

What about the GPS system that lets FedEx track where their trucks and planes are? How would FedEx efficiently handle logistics at that scale without free use of the Air Force's network of positioning satellites?

When FedEx needs to know where to send a package, whose database do you think they use to look up the addresses? Who do you think it is that maintains that massive index and keeps it reasonably up to date? Yeah! The lowly post office does that.

What about the internet that FedEx uses to provide that amazing customer service experience? The internet itself was funded and managed by the defense department before it was freely given over to the public in the early 90's.

Consider the massive phone network upon which FedEx's voice and data systems rely. Would AT&T have been able to build it had they not been a government protected monopoly? Part of Ma Bell's deal with the government was "universal access"... either they expand to provide phone service everywhere or bye-bye monopoly! Would they have ventured so much so fast if they faced the risks of a competitive free market? Could they have even negotiated the necessary land rights needed in order to lay the wires and place their equipment if the federal government wasn’t backing them up?

Where would FedEx be today if it weren't for all these government programs and organizations?

If you break down FedEx's entire business, can you name me even one single significant part that doesn't owe its very existence to some government run organization or program somewhere?

FedEx isn't successful despite the government... it is successful BECAUSE of the government!

Ok, enough about FedEx. I’m not nearly angry enough yet, so let’s get back to healthcare so I can lose my damned mind!

As far as "public services" go, healthcare is a young concept. A hundred years ago the notion of healthcare as we understand it today didn't even exist.

Most of the things that we expect governments to deal with have been around a very long time. It is a long list, but here are some highlights...

• Military and police
• Fire brigades
• Postal and communication services
• Water, sewer and waste removal
• Transportation and roads

Nearly all modern civilizations deem these services so critical, that providing them is the exclusive responsibility of their governments. In most places, access to these services is a fundamental right of the people and they are smart enough to know that only a non-profit public organization that represents "the people" can be entrusted to provide for them. 

But all of these services started out as special privileges reserved solely for the wealthy and powerful.

Healthcare is similar to those other services, except that it is still a very new concept. Here in America, healthcare is still only provided as a commercial service for those who can afford it. But the rest of the world understood fifty years ago that the good health of everyone was essential to the prosperity of anyone... 

America missed the boat on this obvious concept though. But now that our prosperity is undeniably threatened by our own lack of common sense, we are finally being forced to look for a way to solve the healthcare problem.

The need for healthcare in the U.S. today is a lot like the need for a postal service was back in 1776. Like the postal service then, we've had about 100 years of practical experience with some form of healthcare... enough to have proven the benefits beyond a reasonable doubt. We also have ample proof that private interests can not be trusted to meet the full need.

The founding fathers could have decided not to take on a national postal service. They could have left it to private couriers. But they understood that a profit motive wouldn’t get the job done. Instead they appointed the Postmaster General, created the Post Office, and they got the job done.

So here we are now... faced with this undeniable need for universal healthcare and no free-market solution in sight.

We can fuck-about and let the free market continue to fail, or we can unite the hands of the Surgeon General, establish a real U.S. Heathcare Office, and get the job done already.

But no one is talking about that... all they keep trying to do is sell me fucking insurance! As if a piece of paper from a company whose entire job is selling pieces of paper is some kind of a healthcare solution.

When I have a heart-attack, I don't want a policy motherfucker! I want a doctor!

Healthcare is not a "regular" commercial service.

When people get sick, they are not able to make an "informed consumer choice". You aren't buying a fucking box of cereal here! You are sick and you need help RIGHT NOW! .

Healthcare is not a consensual business transaction between willing participants and it certainly is not a fair trade nor an equitable exchange of goods or services. The person needing healthcare is scared, sick, and possibly incapacitated. Hell... they might even be dead already!

The seller of healthcare service has ALL of the advantages. You WILL buy whatever they are selling or you WILL fucking die!

Is that your idea of the free market at work?

And stop telling me insurance is the consumer product that will save the day here!

Fuck you!

Us regular Americans... we do NOT have any say about which health insurance policy we get. We get whatever policy our employer chooses. They dictate what insurance is offered, how much it costs, and which services will be covered.

Do you really think that MY interests are involved in that bullshit free-market exchange in any way at all?

Are you really that damned dense?

And what is with this fucked up idea that the free-market can bring me "competitive choice" of provider and policy options? It hasn’t so far, but even if it did... what the fuck!?!?

Have you actually tried to read an insurance policy?

Even if I could decipher the actual terms of the contract, which is tilted to give every advantage away to the insurer of course, and even if there was a large selection of competing policies for me choose from... I still have NO FUCKING IDEA what my medical needs are or what they will be in the future!

I fail to see how a competitive choice helps anyone. Unless the policy covers every possible healthcare service I might ever possibly need, it isn’t a solution.... and if a policy could provide total coverage at a reasonable rate why would we need competitive choice? Everything is fucking everything and it doesn't matter if I get it from Paul or from Bob does it?

No... what these ass-hats are proposing is just a mother-fucking game of Russian-roulette!

Maybe you guess correctly and pick a policy that just happens to meet your future medical needs... or maybe you guess wrong, your claims get denied, and you fucking die!

Thanks free-market!

Maybe we should have tried insurance back in 1776... Postal insurance companies!

How about that!

You'd pay a Postal Maintenance Organization (or PMO) and they'd give you a policy. Then when you need to have a letter delivered to someone, they'd check to make sure you used the words from the PMO approved word list.

Then you'd have to go find a private letter carrier, but only one that was "in-network" at your PMO of course.

Assuming this carrier is willing to send someone running across 500 miles of Indian and predator infested wilderness... in the rain and snow... AND the carrier doesn’t charge more than the insurance company allows... THEN... maybe... you get your letter delivered.

But only as long as you don't have a pre-existing fucking clue as to what the hell is going on!

Considering how much more important healthcare is compared to mail delivery, I am at a loss to understand how it is that we are still arguing if the government should provide healthcare as a public service.

What we should be arguing about is why we have to wait 45 minutes in line at the local Health Office just to get a flu shot... Or waste our time choosing between prescription labels with the traditional U.S. flag printed on them or the new ones with the cute kittens...

But if I hear you giving the post office any more shit... I might just go postal for real! Hope your health insurance premiums are paid up!