Subject: Re: [drugwar] (OT) screwing each other Date: Sun, 5 Oct 2003 16:50:36 -0400 To: From: Bob Armstrong On Sun, 05 Oct 2003 14:37:58 -0400, Richard Lake wrote: > >=A0I believe you are simply wrong. > >=A0Tell us, if you will, should the U.S. move to privately= operated and owned >=A0highways and streets. Should all that governments do simply be= turned over >=A0to private business to run? No , there are many facilities in what are known in the= literature as the "commons" . Private toll roads are an effective way to= get roads made where in many areas of the world . A lot of aspects of maintenance etc , and certainly in things= like water systems , expertise is more efficiently found by putting= the tasks out for bids to horizontally integrated specialists= rather than trying to maintain a department in the vertically= integrated geographic monopolies . >=A0Perhaps the police and armed forces should just be private= companies? These , and courts , are the fundamental responsibilities of= the state . >=A0Do you really believe that the health insurance industry gives= a shit about >=A0anything but profit? No more or less than any other industry or government= bureaucracy . Nor does it matter . In a market , the ones that offer the best= product will get the most business and accordingly profit . What is to prevent people who have no cost at stake from= clogging a system that is run by taking a certain portion of the GDP ? Every where I have ever heard of with socialized medicine ,= ques and high costs are endemic . >=A0When the people have the ethics, the moral values, to insure= universal >=A0health care, social security, and other people services in the= face of the >=A0greed of rich business folks society is clearly better for it. Are you greedy ? Do you seriously think creating successful= business comes from simply being greedier than the next guy ? Silly . >=A0Claims that services desired by the people are somehow forced= are just so >=A0much bullshit. Those who would profit through the suffering of= the majority >=A0fight, and in the U.S. often win, to maintain their evil= position. I have trouble understanding this . Are you saying people who= go into medicine and related industries are evil ? Better they become lawyers and politicians and activists so they= are not burdened by such sin . >=A0Sure there are sometimes protests, here and there, against the= systems that >=A0support the people. But these do not represent some deep desire= to throw >=A0these systems out - rather the need for fine tuning that will= always be >=A0with us. And I hypothesize that , over the next half century , that "fine= tuning" will continue to be in the direction of declining State force= and greater individual freedom and responsibility . >=A0How about a reality based discussion? =A0Perhaps folks who live,= or who have >=A0lived, in the more advanced countries should have the floor? I included the "propaganda" you snipped as one voice from one of those "advanced" countries . --=A0 =A0Bob Armstrong -- http://CoSy.com -- 212-285-1864 Return our Right to Relax : =A0http://ny.lp.org/cgi-bin/petition.cgi?Against_the_Smoking_Ban Liberty : http://CoSy.com/Liberty.htm