Subject:
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Re: Only nations can generate patriotic pride (Re: Some good news for a change, maybe?)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Wed, 23 Jun 2004 12:49:13 GMT
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Viewed:
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1025 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek wrote:
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Christopher L. Weeks wrote:
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Richard Parsons wrote:
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Don’t get me wrong, government is critically important (like say, a decent
sewerage system),
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Disagree, see below.
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but its highest achievement is to be just a tool.
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I’d agree with that. Properly construed, government is a tool to protect
rights. Improperly constructed, government is a master that takes them away.
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My sewerage system is completely privately owned and works just fine.
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Two points.
1, Perhaps there’s a bit of cause and effect there? Sewerage isn’t really a
proper function of government anyway.
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Sewerage systems tend to be monopolies. The only way to ensure treatment and
conveyance standards are met is to regulate performance... the “market” is poor
at protecting our environment.
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2. Completely privately owned things that work just fine are a large part of
what I feel patriotic about. Certainly I take a lot more patriotic pride in
thinking about the achievements of, say, IBM, than I do the “achievements” of
the BATF.
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You are cherry picking. I’m sure IBM and BATF both have good and bad points.
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One of the great things about the US (and other western democracies,
and other countries where capitalism has been allowed to function) is that
great things consistently get done by private organizations.
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...as well as very bad things. Are you proud of Enron? Union Carbide?
Halliburton? Esso?
Scott A
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