[Peace-discuss] socializing an industry -- good but also bad

[Karen Medina]

Peace-discuss,

I would like to discuss the US taking over an industry. 

Let us take the postal service as an example. The postal service has always been 
tied to the federal government. And has done well.

But as an institution, it was extremely sexist and racist clear into the 1980s. I 
blame this on the fact that it was tied to the federal government. For a very long 
time, the postal service did not have to abide by OSHA's safety guidelines, again 
because it was a government institution. The postal service used to be one of 
the highest stress occupations -- again because it was run by the government 
and was managed top-down and so very close to the way the military was run 
that many ex-military people were employed by the postal service. 

I am not saying that I think the postal service should be privatized, I am just 
saying that when the government runs an industry, it tends to overlook human 
dignity issues and is slow to change -- and it makes us all guilty for the human 
rights abuses done by the institution. 

It is good sometimes to be able to point to a CEO and say that person is bad, 
but it is really hard for the public to turn and look at the way the public is 
running an industry and say "we are bad".

-karen medina