2009-5-19 04:31:00
[Compiler's Note: The "Local Posts" series of articles found here in "The Archives" are a collection of exchanges between JJ Dewey and others participating on a local online newspaper blog, and were subsequently re-posted by JJ Dewey on The Keys Of Knowledge discussion group. Because of the length of the original post, the archived version of this post was broken up into multiple parts. This is Part Two. Links to the other parts can be found at the end of this article.]
JJ:
Ms. Sower's article is an affront to reason and general good will. To infer that those who are against socialism "hate public teachers" is extremely insulting and untrue.
Those who say they are against socialism are generally against the federal government running that which can be done by private business or local communities. Firefighting would not fit into this category as well as community and state controlled education.
To infer that believers in privatization like myself should not use social services when the government has a monopoly is crazy talk. Because I would like to see the post office privatized means I should not mail a letter?? How silly is that?
And if you think Vets [military veterans] are happy with their socialized medicine just ask one. I'll bet everyone you can find will say they would prefer being treated in the private system.
I am with Ms Harris who said: "We want less government control, not more," but of course I must use government monopolies when that is all there is.
A participant on the Stateman blog wrote:
"Joseph, just why would firefighting not fit into the private sector? If I had the resources I could build a firehouse, buy firetrucks, hire firemen, charge for my service, etc. It would be no different than the for-profit medical industry. Doesn't that fit directly into the capitalist thinking?"
JJ:
Actually, I am all for privatizing everything we can including firefighters (I used to be one).
There are quite a few private fire departments in the country and they are very efficient and the training is excellent. When there is not a fire in the works they do not watch TV and play pool the way we used to do, but they try and get their money's worth out of them by making use of hours paid for.
My point was the Tea Party people were not, as a whole, protesting local cooperative efforts, but Federal intrusion and overspending.
"Normm" wrote:
"You can mail a letter with FedEx or Big Brown, will cost you somewhere around 3 to 8 bucks."
JJ:
You can't seriously think this means the post office does not have a monopoly? Newsflash: The government does have a monopoly on all "non urgent" letter delivery." The cheapest letter on the UPS site is $17.55. So of course, I will go with the government monopoly and pay 43 cents to send a bill even though it would probably cost 30 cents if the post office were privatized.
"BigDaddyCool":
"Explain something to all of us out here who are trying to gain employment so that we can pay our bills:
"Why is it that the 'Tea Party'ers' consider jobs to be nothing but handouts and job creation to be nothing but Socialism?"
JJ:
That's not what we think.
"BigDaddyCool":
"Hmm? Why do they hate the unemployed so much that they not only do not want to see us go back to work but they want to see us lose our homes as well?"
JJ:
We love the unemployed who are looking for honest work.
"BigDaddyCool":
"That is what it seems like to myself and many of my friends who are looking for jobs as I am."
JJ:
Then you are in illusion.
"BigDaddyCool":
"It's almost as if you don't want us to go back to work because that means that whatever the President is doing to fix the economy is working -- and we can't have that now, can we?"
JJ:
Be happy to have an increase of jobs created as result of the trillions borrowed but it is not happening because the money is being sent down sinkholes. We'd have a lot more jobs if the money were just spent hiring people to dig holes and fill them back up.
"BigDaddyCool":
"That is what the 'Tea Partiers' seem to be saying to me and my fellow job seekers."
JJ:
Do some real thinking about what works and does not work. Read Ayn Rand's books.
"BigDaddyCool":
"Now as to Mrs. Sower's letter, she brings up a valid point. Fire and Police Protection and Public Education are Socialized Programs. Why the hue and cry about "Socialized Medicine" and not those programs."
JJ:
I already explained that the big beef was with federal intrusion and control into the state and local governments. Localized cooperative efforts are supported by the vast majority and few would protest local police and fire, even though a good argument could be made for their privatization.
"BigDaddyCool":
"If people are going to be against socialism then they should be against ALL forms of Socialism, not just the ones they don't like. Otherwise they look like a bunch of hypocrites."
JJ:
You are trying to place all the Tea Party people in one mold. I am all for socialist experiments if they are done through free will and participants can withdraw from them if they do not work.
What I am against is Big Brother taking my money by force and then forcing a social program down my throat with no means of escape.
My question to the left is this. Why does freedom of choice threaten you to the extent that you feel you have to force your will on the rest of us?
"TSparks":
"What a big fat hypocrite you are. Go ahead and stand up for your beliefs and use the private sector that can do everything better--maybe if you privatizers would nut up and send some business their way, they could compete with the USPS."
JJ:
Sometimes I think the Left has Tourette's Syndrome causing uncontrolled insulting attacks.
Let me explain this so you can understand. A hypocrite goes against his belief system. My belief system says to go with the best price and service if both companies are honorable and in the USA. The best price is not from UPS at $17.55 for a letter.
If it were legal (which I wish it was) for private industry to compete with the Post Office and the cost was 30 cents per letter then I would use them. If it turned out a private company's price was higher at 50 cents then I would use the government's post office.
This is the way I believe. It is not hypocritical to follow your belief. Stop imposing your erroneous belief of my belief.
"TWall":
"Since when is it illegal for UPS to compete against the US Postal Service? Isn't that what they already do?"
JJ:
It's always been illegal for any other service to compete with first class or bulk mail or to use mailboxes for delivery. Where have you been?
By law there can be no competition with first class mail. Since that is all there is I use it because I BELIEVE in doing so. Nothing hypocritical about going with your beliefs.
I believe that if the post office were privatized that the costs would come down, but that has not happened so I BELIEVE in using the best of what is available and since there is only one first class service available I am forced to use that.
To the post office's credit I think it is the best run government agency around, but still think a private company could do better.
"Tsparks" wrote:
"Joe, you can always put your letter in a fed-ex cardboard delivery envelope and let the private industry send your mail. Nobody is forcing you to use the Guv'ment."
JJ:
That's crazy talk man! Why would I pay $17.55 for a non emergency letter I can send for 43 cents? If I did this I would be a hypocrite because it would violate my belief system.
JJ:
I don't know how many times I have to say it. The Post Office has a monopoly on first and third class mail as well as letterboxes. Here is a quote from Wikipedia:
"As a quasi-governmental agency, it has many special privileges, including sovereign immunity, eminent domain powers, powers to negotiate postal treaties with foreign nations, and an exclusive legal right to deliver first-class and third-class mail. Indeed in 2004. [...] The U.S. Supreme Court has also upheld the USPS's statutory monopoly on access to letterboxes against a First Amendment freedom of speech challenge; it thus remains illegal in the U.S. for anyone other than the employees and agents of the USPS to deliver mailpieces to letterboxes marked 'U.S. Mail.'"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Service
"Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth."
-- Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)
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