[415] in libertarians
Re: Private roads
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Travis Corcoran)
Tue Nov 15 09:40:50 1994
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 94 09:39:06 EST
From: tjic@ICD.teradyne.com (Travis Corcoran)
To: ricks@cognos.COM
Cc: libertarians@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: <9411151209.AA01538@cognos.COM> (ricks@cognos.COM)
> Date: Tue, 15 Nov 1994 07:09:20 -0500
> From: ricks@cognos.COM (Rick Soderstrom)
>
> I think that there is a name used to describe a group of people living in one place
> who get together to provide common services like roads, water, sewer, Electrical service
> garbage pickup, fire protection, security and schools.
>
> Its called government.
I disagree.
Private roads were common in the past, before the government took them
over (and still are in many niches: airports, malls, private
developments, farms, etc.).
Water service is often private in less intesely settled areas, where
people have their own wells. The Boston water service was privately
run before the city took it over.
Sewer service is private in all places where municipal sewers don't
reach. The mechanism is usually septic tanks.
Electrical service is private, although heavilly reguylated. Some
people use alternate energy approaches to get off the grid.
Garbage pickup is privately run in many areas, and contracted by the
local government. When I lived in Ithaca, NY we paid for our garbage
pickup by the bag. When this program started garbage went down and
recycling went up.
The first fire department was privately owned (in Rome).
Security is available to individuals and groups in the forms of (a)
alarms (b) weapons for self-defense (c) private guards (look at any
mall, bank, etc. Even some private neighborhoods hire their own
guards).
Many schools are private...MIT, for one trivial example. This has
been shown to work at lower levels too: I went to a Catholic
elementary school and high school...
So...let's rephrase the original statement. "I think there is a name
for a group of people who usurp control over private services like
roads, water, sewer, Electrical service, garbage pickup, fire
protection, security and schools. It's called government."
--
TJIC (Travis J.I. Corcoran) TJIC@icd.teradyne.com
opinions(TJIC) != opinions(employer(TJIC))
"Buy a rifle, encrypt your data, and wait for the Revolution!"
