Cohen points out that we have public/private competition in many other areas of life:
Private schools survive public education: Brearley and Bronx Science peacefully coexist. FedEx tolerates the U.S. Postal Service. Six Flags is facing bankruptcy, but no one proposes that we close down Yosemite or Yellowstone to protect it.I'll propose it. I also propose shutting down libraries. Surely Barnes and Noble could expand profits if all public libraries locked their doors.
It's strange, when you think about it. Why does anyone in California attend UCLA or the Cal State universities? Libertarian theology tells us that private institutions like USC and Occidental (Mr. O's alma mater) deliver a better education at a cheaper price. If the gummint does nothing right, why isn't UCLA a ghost town?
And why rely on the Green Berets or the Navy Seals when -- according to Libertarian theology -- private mercs will always, always do a better job of death-dealing?
Why must cops inform suspects that the court will appoint an attorney if they do not have one? Private attorneys will always be cheaper than public defenders, and anyone who says otherwise is Theologically Incorrect. Also, a judge employed by a private corporation will always do a fairer job than a gummint-paid judge. Why do we need cops when we can rely on private security forces, like the ones in Somalia?
Somalia does just fine with power in the hands of private warlords, wheeler-dealers and pirates. It now enjoys the supreme benefits of anarchy. Libertarian paradise. Really, things would be a lot better if America were more like Somalia. God forbid we turn into a hell-hole like Sweden.
Added note: Why does Medicare exist? That is, why has it not withered away in the face of competition? Those 45 million seniors can switch to private health insurance plans -- nothing stops them from doing so -- and private is always, always cheaper and better. To say otherwise would be Theologically Incorrect.
9 comments:
The Republican Revolution seems to have been based on the idea that merchants are the super-race.
For the last 30 years, all we heard was that businessmen are more efficient and more honest, that business methods are always the best methods, and that the free market system is perfect.
Private enterprise good. Government bad. Everything should be run according to business principles. Life is an Ayn Rand novel.
We must all join together in mutual hatred of government. Government workers are to be regarded with suspicion. Perhaps they should be made to wear armbands. Children who express an interest in government work should be sent to therapy.
What a coincidence that the folks who propound this brilliant philosophy just happen to be merchant types. ;)
What is up with all these socialist roads and highways? Let private corporations build and maintain them.
Don't get me started on the inefficiency of socialized sewage.
Try to make this argument to a Wankatarian and they will probly blame "unreulated free market" failures on some government program. Here in "Bamaville PA it's minority home ownership that's the root of the collapse. The banks were forced by the government into writing zero down to un(under)qualified minority borrowers. Yeah, sure.
One of the definitions of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different outcome.
The republican party had been deregulating and gutting government since Reagan and that tide hasn't lifted anybody but a wealthy few Wall Street Banksters.
Proof they are insane.
Am I the only one who remembers when President Clinton called the Republicans' bluff, and let them shut down the government? People screamed bloody murder when 'their' program was gone.
Mr. Cannon, here is a link to the cover article in this month's Washington Monthly concerning open source vs proprietary (General Electric, Microsoft) healthcare software. One of the open source options was developed by the VA. It comes under the heading, 'private industry is always better - NOT.'
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2009/0907.longman.html
P.S. Just a clarification of a comment: federal employees, from lowly clerks to the Congress and President, are offered a smorgasbord of PRIVATE policies to choose from. There is no government run option.
Hahahaha!
You spank Libertarians as well as you do Obots.
Yeah, the Ayn Randologists base their beliefs on a piece of fiction, heh.
Corporate hypervigilance about copyrights makes the concept of public libraries seem like an idea from a golden age. I'm surprised that libraries have been allowed to continue to exist.
private enterprise always does a better job
That cracks me up because the public has had to bail out one hell of alot of private enterprise ass within the last year and will bailout more private enterprise ass in the coming months and all in the trillions.But private enterprise always does a better job?
This notion is a lie meant to further the privation of public services .
It's like the best and the brightest somehow knowing best....another lie.
There are some things that aren't not meant to generate profits. The sick, the elderly, the police and fire dept, prisons etc.
The health care mess stems from trying to find obscene profits, within the medical costs for care.
Health care is not an industry. You might as well call the police an industry....and perhaps we will shortly. Stop paying insurance companies CEOs 300 million a year and you'd be amazed at how many more people could be covered. Why do we even have insurance companies at this point? They were created to supposedly cut costs. They are past their time...the problem there is they give so much $$$$ to elected officals for their campaigns. How many more people could be covered if that lobbying money went to health care?
We live in a world were maintaing the three martin lunch at the strip club culture is way, way more important than health screening the public.
It now enjoys the supreme benefits of anarchy. Libertarian paradise.
In every interview or debate I have heard where a Libertarian is challenged, at some point they say, "Hey, I am not an anarchist or anything...!" When pressed, they either admit that they really are, OR they say, "Government should only exist to protect citizens' rights to 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'" Well, this latter leads to either many unresolvable contradictions (e.g. the liberty to smoke anywhere vs. the liberty to go anywhere and have smoke-free air) OR to a form of totalitarianism where everything has to be continually re-equallized by force to some common denominator.
Speaking of the Scandinavian countries, one of the saddest things about Libertarians is that they don't believe as the Scandinavians do (and keep proving): that rugged individualism and social conscience can co-exist in the same individual (and in the same society).
Sergei Rostov
Why must cops inform suspects that the court will appoint an attorney if they do not have one? Private attorneys will always be cheaper than public defenders, and anyone who says otherwise is Theologically Incorrect. Also, a judge employed by a private corporation will always do a fairer job than a gummint-paid judge. Why do we need cops when we can rely on private security forces, like the ones in Somalia?
I actually read an article which seriously espoused this. My reply: What if the cops, the judge, the and your lawyer are all employed by the same corporation? (And if they claimed they weren't, how would you know?)
If you want controls to prevent abuses, who would have to enforce them? An entity which would untimately be accountable to the populace at large (and not just the majority shareholders...or shareholder, singular)...which means the government of a representative democracy. Oops! :)
Sergei Rostov
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