Why do people use the word socialist to describe public healthcare, but not when describing our postal system?

Question

Why do people use the word socialist to describe public healthcare, but not when describing our postal system?

Answer 1

Same with our police officers and firefighters.  People don't understand socialism.  They think Universal Healthcare is a bad thing.  

Answer 2

You should have used the police or the firemen as example. They were all social services, and we are all paying to make them functional.

Correction to all answerers before me: you are all wrong. Even if you pay stamps, even if you dont avail of postal services, your tax money is used to maintain the postal system and pay for the salaries of the postal employees, their trucks, their overtimes, benefits etc.

To u_bin_ca: public healthcare can be waived. SO if you dont trust the government and you can afford to pay, you can avail your own HMO as usual.

Answer 3

Socialism is when the government provides for you. Where in our constitution does it say the government is supposed to provide for you or your family. This is not including basic services such as police, fire, and military. And Post office. This is the fundamental difference between liberals, and republicans. We believe in ourselves. We believe the private sector can, and does do a better job at nearly everything. We believe government should play a smaller roll in or lives, and let capitalism flourish. Socialism has never worked. It won't work here.  

Answer 4

Because I'm not forced to only use the Post Office (I can use Fedex, UPS, etc). And user fees (stamps) cover the cost of the U.S. Postal Service.  When they don't operate at a profit, they raise the cost of stamps, like a business, they are not permitted to operate at a loss (Amtrak is a better example, outside the Northeast Corridor and the Auto Train, that is).

Answer 5

because one is a service that involves moving objects from one numbered place to another numbered place..which a bureaucracy is reasonably capable of doing...

...the other involves life and death decisions regarding medical care, which is about as indivudual and un-quantifyable as you can get...this is something I would NOT trust to a government bureaucracy.

The Postal System does not dictate what you may or may say in your mail...it does not have a say in what catalogs you may receive and which ones are "beyond your means."  That is the type of government involvement "Free Health Care" would inflict on the postal industry if the same intent were applied.

Answer 6

Because they're used to thinking of healthcare as an individual's responsibility, whereas few people try to run their own mail system.  It has more to do with tradition than a logical division of individual vs. collective responsibility.

Answer 7

Because we as consumers pay for the post office.  Are stamps free?  

Answer 8

Because everyone pays the same amount to use the postal service, but a gov't run healthcare system would depend on wealthier people (middle to upper class people) to pay more taxes in order to "pay" for those who can't/won't pay anything.  (The poor don't get to mail their letters for free.)

Answer 9

same thing. both get money from you, one way or the other. not much like a private business, nor is exxon. they just increase prices by marking up whatever their costs should happen to be. no real incentive to compete.