Privatization

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

http://hotdogfactory.blogspot.com/2012/01/is-stephen-harper-going-to-sell-jasper.html

There is a rumour being passed around via email and facebook saying PM Harper is planning to privatize Jasper National Park (5 hr drive from here) with considerable uproar. Would you Libertarians in this community really support private enterprise to run your national parks?

You Libertarians say you want smaller government. Government is inefficient and untrustworthy. So how far would you allow private corporations to rule your country? Would you sell off your Park Systems? What about environment controls? The Post Office? The Military? The CIA and Secret Service to be put on tender for the highest bidder? Or how about the Senate? Screw elections how about whomever raises the most cash simply wins their seat in the House of Representatives and Whitehouse? Why or why not?

Comments

[kardashev.livejournal.com]

Not a Libertarian myself: However:

"Would you sell off your Park Systems?"

Nope.

"What about environment controls?"

Please be more specific. Do you mean letting private companies take over the jog of watchdog agencies?

"The Post Office?"

Nobody's going to want to buy the United States Post Office. It's becoming more obsolete all the time thanks to competition with e-mail and FedEx.

"The Military?"

No. I don't want our military being replaced with Boba Fett. :p

"The CIA and Secret Service to be put on tender for the highest bidder?"

The CIA sucks. Might as well ditch 'em. Not so sure about the Secret Service though.

"Or how about the Senate? Screw elections how about whomever raises the most cash simply wins their seat in the House of Representatives and Whitehouse?"

It matters not who's in the Senate much or how they got there. None of them actually serve their constituents anyway.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

Would you Libertarians in this community really support private enterprise to run your national parks?

Yes. The state doesn't need 'em.

What about environment controls

I think there's places where such controls might be needed when it comes to interstate issues.

The Post Office?

Long, long overdue, but my Postal Monopoly Hobby Horse is well-known.

The CIA and Secret Service to be put on tender for the highest bidder?

This, no. It's an arm of our military, really.

Or how about the Senate?

I'm also on record as against direct election of Senators, since that's supposed to be representative of the states.

Screw elections how about whomever raises the most cash simply wins their seat in the House of Representatives and Whitehouse?

This is silly.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Well, some might not have a chance actually. For example, Niall Ferguson keeps insisting that there's another way of addressing (and paying off) enormous public debt (he prescribes this for Greece in particular, but the US too): privatization of infrastructure and other things, I suspect including national parks, too.

That approach, of course, fails to explain how would the system be reformed in any way, to prevent further indebtedness. So what would happen is paying that debt one time, privatizing a lot of stuff, and then the system piling a new debt again. He's healing the symptoms, not the disease.

Back to square one, then?

[soliloquy76.livejournal.com]

I would be OK with the government retaining ownership and oversight while privatizing the maintenance and other administrative duties. Selling it, though? I think that should be up to the voters.

[korean-guy-01.livejournal.com]

Most of your post reaches too far but running national parks & the mail system are definitely two areas geared for privatization.

[montecristo.livejournal.com]

It amuses me to see the presumption of the non-libertarians that the government is somehow superhuman, as if government were not just one more human corporate enterprise which, unlike all others, presumes a monopoly on violence to ensure its rents. The presumption is backed and obscured by the superstitious worship that we dub "patriotism."

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

I'm against privatizing National Parks simply because there is no way to make a business of it without monetizing it to hell and destroying everything in the process. There's no way to have a Forest Service that is a profit-turning business. There's no way to make money on it, unless you turn it into something else-- which people don't want. The idea that privatizing is just "the same thing" with a different owner is terribly naive.