How would we privatize the whole government?
The first heated arguments to arise when discussing privatizing government regard road networks, court systems, and police departments.
Public education or the post office are mentioned occasionally, but most don't want to talk about coercive government functions that are easily replaced by better free society options.
The strongest objections are made about big projects that are hard for the layman to understand.
If I answer these objections, will you agree to privatize your government?
I didn't think so.
That means those objections are just smoke screens, they are used to hide the real problem; perhaps even from yourself.
The real problem is we have given so much responsibility to government we would not know how to act if they did not tell us. We have been trained in government approved schools to be obedient, faithful followers; and to hope our leaders know best. They don't.
"Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others?" - Thomas Jefferson, helped privatize the English colonies
Freedom takes work. Most people would rather be political slaves receiving minimal care than pursue happiness and success if accompanied by the stresses of thinking and acting for themselves.
"The average man is a conformist, accepting miseries and disasters with the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain." - Colin Wilson
Are you an average cow? Are you being herded, branded, milked; and if your governmental owners want it, slaughtered?
But what more oft, in nations grown corrupt, and by their vices brought to servitude, than to love bondage more than liberty - bondage with ease than strenuous liberty - and to despise, or envy, or suspect, whom God hath of his special favor raised as their deliverer? - John Milton
Choose Whom To Serve
A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them. - P. J. O'Rourke
I know you love your country - so this must be for all the other countries out there. You know, the ones your country refuses to deal with.
A natural basis of relationship is family and tribe , a tribe acting as an extended family. Normally these relationships operate under known rules that are accepted by the group's members.
As group size increases, rules are created to support the dominance of the few. An early stage might be a city state - we can use Rome as an example. Some families will dominate - rules to support and perpetuate dominance are put into effect.
When Rome (Washington is now like Rome - ruling both country and empire) first conquered local cities it offered survivors an opportunity to join Rome under their rules. As growth continued oppression increased in new territories with each victory. The increasingly harsh rules at the boundaries of empire enshrined a ruling class in Rome.
Beyond a certain size groups will be inherently unequal. Democracy changes the structure but does not change the facts, the majority or their manipulators are now the ruling class -- making rules to their own benefit. Consider three lions and one sheep voting on what's for dinner.
"The gentle government that promises to hold your hand as you cross the street refuses to let go on the other side." - Theodore J. Forstmann
Governments originally sprang from roving tribes that looted early agrarians. These criminal bands eventually settled down and stole in one convenient location - offering "protection" from other thieves in exchange for support. A government would then be the first form of organized crime, one reason it resists all other organized criminals that try to muscle into its territory.
Into this admittedly extreme position I will, with apologies to the author, insert a quote by a brilliant man - who I am reasonably sure did not expect to have this quote applied in this manner.
"Look at the tyranny of party--at what is called party allegiance, party loyalty--a snare invented by designing men for selfish purposes--and which turns voters into chattles, slaves, rabbits"
Mark Twain
I regard the above as what it appears to be - a condemnation of ignorantly and automatically supporting your vastly extended political tribe in elections.
But since Samuel Langhorne Clemens is no longer here to defend his thoughts, I will paraphrase it and put it to my own uses.
Look at the tyranny of country--at what is called patriotic allegiance, patriotic loyalty--a snare invented by designing men for selfish purposes--and which turns citizens into chattles, slaves, rabbits.
allegiance can be a virtue.
Supporting and defending yourself, your family, and your friends when they are in the right is both natural and to be applauded.
Commitment to a just cause is a hallmark of rational beings.
Connection with a local team or institution can enrich your life. Cheering for a local team is a harmless identity projection.
However -- following a faction, group, or party of loosely defined causes without reservation is grossly extended and ignorant tribalism.
"The old parties are husks, with no real soul within either, divided on artificial lines, boss-ridden and privilege-controlled, each a jumble of incongruous elements" - Theodore Roosevelt
Roving criminals still exist, and will settle into any group that folks follow blindly. From a position of authority they will then abuse power and seek to perpetuate their dominance.
The good news is that society is changing - technology is empowering thoughtful individuals to reclaim their personal freedom.
It may not happen soon enough for you, unless you take control of your own life.
And what does this have to do with the future?
The future that will be most important to you is your own future. Don't decide on your actions based on what you have been taught or allowed to experience.
It is a big world, there are many cultures to choose from.
It is your life - live your own life in the manner you feel is most important.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences."
P.J. O'Rourke
Thomas Jefferson
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have."
How do you feel about it?
"A traffic jam is a collision between free enterprise and socialism. Free enterprise produces automobiles faster than socialism can build roads and road capacity." %u2013 Andrew Galambos
We have been raised in a world of black and white, day and night. But as we leave one era and enter another we are in a world of dusk and dawn. Almost everything is now gray.
When two opposing ideas are presented, both can not be right. But in times of transition, both can be very wrong. It is now a time for new ideas.
How do we re-discover liberty?
"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." - Thomas Paine
America's founding fathers were descendants of settlers that had moved to the Americas hoping to find more freedom.
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." - Benjamin Franklin
How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World: A Handbook for Personal Liberty
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The Revolution: A Manifesto
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The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age
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The Freedom Outlaw's Handbook: 179 Things to Do 'Til the Revolution
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Government, like all bureaucracies, is going to shrink, and perhaps implode.
How will government programs be replaced?
When folks talk about why we need government - one of the first arguments is - to provide services.
In reality there is no less efficient way to meet needs than give money and power to a bureaucracy. Regardless of the rhetoric used when created, a bureaucracies main goal will always be to perpetuate itself and grow.
We have seen over and over again how private enterprise solutions are less expensive and produce better results. Of course in the case of education or the post office, bureaucrats are not willing to give up their power and profiteering just to benefit students and the nation.
It is the same with other services. Arbitration works better and cheaper in many cases than the court system - yet remains under used.
In many cases private solutions would work better, but are so subject to regulation that they end up even more inefficient than government. Electrical service is one example. I just received a letter from my congresswoman about expected blackouts this summer - and how I need to conserve energy. I've heard this from her every year for a decade. Obviously government can't meet the needs and please enough voters - so they blame citizens.
In California the government had screwed up power supply so badly they pretended to privatize it. They left power under so many impossible rules and regulations they could claim privatization failed and then take it back after some private sector fixes were applied. Private enterprise never had a chance.
Officials don't care about electrical power. Open market solutions would save money and provide better service; but then politicos would have less power over other's lives. That is the power they are concerned about.
Here is a privatization which is sorely needed:
competition for policemen and police forces.
The pressure to provide good service, and not use excessive force, would impel competing teams to provide balanced protection. The best teams would get the best contracts, and seek to be even better.
Poor police teams, violent teams, and arrogant teams would not keep their jobs. The best officers would be sought for competing teams - and without tenure would strive to stay the best.
The biggest problem would be in who gets to choose and oversee the teams. Politics is a corrupting influence. There are remedies for political corruption, such as term limits, that go beyond this discussion.
Of course politics is corrupt without police team competition already. Over time many police departments develop their own subculture of corruption. It would be nice to be able to toss them both out and start over.
There are answers out there - most begin with less regulation and smaller government. Private solutions can be created to keep control out of the hands of the four bigs.
To stand this argument on end I will quote Harry Browne - a hero of the efficient government battle. Read Harry Browne's books such as How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World. Maybe your library has a copy.
Harry asked a question that went something like this:
"Would you give up your favorite government program to pay no taxes?"
I doubt if big police departments are many people's favorite government program.
Charles A. Beard
It is sobering to reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence.
Privatize Judge Judy
Let's talk about some of the tough government functions that need to be privatized.
Many arguments over government, aside from the loud and senseless ones by those cheering for their political team, end up about how much government is the right amount of government.
Socialists, be they communist or fascist, think the government should control just about everything. Communists run the government and their countries with political party elites, fascists run it with a few political elites and large business leaders. Libertarians and anarcho-capitalists by contrast think little or no government is just about right.
We have seen socialist extremes in our life time, Russia collapsed under a huge central government. The American Revolution came close to a libertarian society, a limited and weak central government with free and separate states competing for free and mobile citizens. There have been no extreme anarcho-capitalist states since the Industrial revolution. Prior to that the Hansa League for one was a type of very loose capitalist alliance, for centuries there was no real central authority structure.
States in transition to watch include China, now capitalist in structure with a strong central government growing weaker. The United States is also in transition, it was once capitalist in structure with distributed power and since the start of the last depression has steadily been socialized and centralized. Russia, stuck in the spin cycle. Russia has never had a strong small business class, the closest it has come to capitalism is fairly primitive. Russia is floundering about with half measures and over reactions. India is the unnoticed but potentially powerful dark horse, a large number of literate people strangled by regulation and tradition, but they are emerging quickly.
The oldest democracy in the world is Switzerland, with over 500 years of successful decentralized government among diverse citizens. As a capitalist country surrounded by a heavily socialist Europe, Switzerland too is under great pressure. With the emerging information and miniaturization age all countries are under the pressure of societal change.
When folk talk of programs they feel absolutely need government, they usually mention at least roads, courts, and police.
Roads we can envision privatized because we have seen toll roads. Courts are tougher, but we have seen Judge Judy. JJ is really just binding arbitration, both parties guarantee they will abide by her decision, a quick presentation and the case is settled. Most civil matters can be privatized, and then we can look at criminal trials.
Police, here we can consider small private teams of Cops looking for a few year contract. Their reputation for lack of unnecessary force and fair action may get their contract renewed, otherwise they can get booted. The threat of the boot, and the extra pay from competition for the better teams, will encourage fair and balanced enforcement. Police as short term mercenaries under civil authority is very doable. Think of it as term limits for power.
The Libertarian Harry Brown said something to the effect, "Would you give up your favorite government program to stop paying taxes?" Think of the huge outpouring from the private sector for Katrina, private charity is much more efficient than government, and would be larger still if government did not take half of everyone's income.
It can be done; it has been done. The difficulty is keeping government limited over time. The US constitution did that for almost a century, before it started getting ignored - can we do as well?
With our changing society will it be done? The next question is which nation will attempt it first? There will be liberty and wealth for the people of countries that succeed.
This next 50 years will be very interesting.
Judge Judy, one way to avoid slow and unjust courts.
Edmund A. Opitz
No one can read our Constitution without concluding that the people who wrote it wanted their government severely limited; the words "no" and "not" employed in restraint of government power occur 24 times in the first seven articles of the Constitution and 22 more times in the Bill of Rights.
Do we need big government?
"One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils in this world are to be cured by legislation." - Thomas B. Reed (1886)
"All the fiery rhetoric of the Founders was directed at a "tyrant" who taxed his subjects at a rate of about three percent. Today, we in "the land of the free" are taxed at about 50 percent when you add federal, state, and local taxes. What kind of government would do this? A dictatorship would."
Doug Newman
If two partners are working - one is working for the government - for free.
"If the government can't keep drugs away from inmates who are locked in steel cages, surrounded by barbed wire, watched by armed guards, drug-tested, strip-searched, X-rayed, and videotaped - how can it possibly stop the flow of drugs to an entire nation?"
Ron Crickenberger
They can't protect those inmates either - they still die from a shiv between the ribs.
"Government programs are theater productions requiring expensive admission tickets. For instance; they pretend to protect us - we pretend to feel safe.
Allan Wallace
Logic and history argue that creation of government agencies that can write rules and regulations with the force of law are an attack on the Constitution.
"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms, disarm only those who are neither inclined, nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants. They serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
Thomas Jefferson, 1764
The first battles of the revolution were over citizen's rights to own arms. Somehow the British thought it wrong that colonists owned cannon, powder, and shot. The purpose of gun control laws is to protect government powers, not to protect the people.
"Every coercive monopoly was created by government intervention into the economy: by special privileges, such as franchises or subsidies, which closed the entry of competitors into a given field, by legislative action."
Ayn Rand
Free societies are not made by government edict, but by the alacrity with which government gets out of the way of the people's natural enterprise.
Isn't it about time we found Congress in contempt of The People? Instead we elect quisling senators to the presidency. There are better third party choices. Better yet - let's start a serious diet for our grossly overweight government.
Should we privatize Government? If so, by how much?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byLet's get as few bureaucrats involved in our lives as possible.
BFuniv.com says:
A little regulation can be good, unfortunately any regulatory regime tends to grow until it strangles freedom and destroys what it set out to protect. People, and freedom, are self regulating and adjust to change. It's sloppy - but it works far better than giving individuals power to control other's lives.
Posted October 08, 2008
Things just go smoother when we have public servants to do everything for us.
The bureaucratic society focused on defining "what." In this new netcohort era it is ok to ask why.
When someone says "the government should fix that," it means they are willing to use other people's money to meddle in other people's lives.
"Laws are like cobwebs which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through." - Jonathan Swift, Gullivers Travels, 1726
Just video samples of reasons to resist the bureaucratic corruption that too big government assures.
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." - Thomas Jefferson
1776 (Restored Director's Cut)
A rousing story telling how difficult it was to start a journey toward liberty. Not completely accurate (ie: Adams and Lee were co-conspirators in helping to establish a traitor's network within the colonies). A pleasure to watch
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Wag the Dog (New Line Platinum Series)
Is this sort of thing happening? Is war truly the "health of the state?" Do you think those that love power would ignore such a tool?
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The Fountainhead
Why is it almost impossible for someone to retain integrity when pressured from all sides?
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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Sadly, this is fiction. A single honest voice is never heard over the cacophony of vice that passes for central government. America is as corrupt as any nation - bribes are only punished at lower levels of government. "When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators." - P.J. O'Rourke
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The Distinguished Gentleman
A bit soft on congress, but still accurate as far as comedy can go. There is some sexual content, don't watch it if you will be offended.
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Nice of you to drop in, please leave a note:
"Everything is theoretically impossible, until it's done. One could write a history of science in reverse by assembling the solemn pronouncements of highest authority about what could not be done and could never happen." - Robert A. Heinlein
Just a few generations ago; roads, courts, police, in fact all services were provided at taxes of under 10% for all levels of government. What have we gained since then?
Lots of government programs, like the wars on poverty or drugs, that have had no impact on poverty or drugs - but have made us a nation dependent on our rulers.
Fire Back!
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Cumberland
The functions of government are very strictly laid out in the Constitution. Most of what Washington D.C. does now is not mandated by the Constitution and is authority D.C. has usurped. Posted August 05, 2008 |
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