I don’t think I’ve ever started a meme before, but here goes, anyway.

I found this John Stossel quote at the Brussels Journal:

The fall of the Soviet Union deprived us of the biggest example of how socialism works. We need laboratories of failure to demonstrate what socialism is like. All we have now is Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, the U.S. Post Office, and state motor-vehicle departments.

Unfortunately, Stossel went for all the low-hanging fruit.

I’ll keep it local, to get the ball rolling:

1. Highways – ours in Michigan are in constant need of repair, funneling 4 lanes into two, three lanes into one, or just simply closing major urban thoroughfares for months at a time. Work is typically done during the day, which incidentally is when most people have to drive. Their public nature ensures that no number of lanes will ever be enough to prevent congestion for more than a few weeks.
2. Urban planning – Detroit. Need I say more?
3. The UAW. Perhaps, unions served a noble purpose at one time in history. Perhaps. But coupled with “good-faith” bargaining laws (i.e., the negation of free-enterprise), “ALL YOUR MOTOR COMPANY ARE BELONG TO US.”

Come up with your own short list of “bad examples” – it shouldn’t be that hard, because all examples of socialism are bad.