June 26, 2002
The secret to a successful government is doing less, not more. The more the government sinks its tentacles into the private sector (or what should be the privtae sector) the worse things become. Here's Jason's Guide to Beginning Libertarianism:
- Any operation that can be done on a per-person basis should be privatized.
- Monopolies (or near-monopolies) are bad if the monopolist uses its power to prevent competition or institute price-gouging.
- The government should provide as few rules as possible while still making sure all parties behave in an equitable manner.
- Any operation that cannot be done on a per-person basis should be handled by the government.
Let's look at a recent cry for bigger government: Enron's role in the California electricity problems in 2001. As per rule number one, since electricity can be done on a per-person basis, it should be privatized, as California tried to do. However, Enron used its market-share to gouge its customers (the utilities) (there goes rule #2) while the utilities had to freeze prices (breaking rule #1) causing the rolling blackouts. Also, the government failed to act on what was happening, even though I'm (fairly) sure there were already rules on the book (rule #3).
Now, why should things like utilities be privatized? For the simple reason that the consumers benefit more from it. When I was growing up, I lived in Akron. Warner Cable (now a part of AOLTW) was granted a monopoly for the area. Cleveland, 30 miles to the north, had competition between its cable providers. The result? Cleveland had better channel selection and lower prices than Akron. The customers won. Now, how is this different from electricity, natural gas and even water? I would say that it isn't.
What I'm basically trying to get at here is this: Businesses know how to run businesses a lot better than the government (take a look at some of the budget deficits we've run lately). All the government should be doing is making sure that everybody starts with a level playing field. Other than that, it should just leave everybody alone.
