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TFS (Part 2) - Public Goods - 02/16/2009

Thus far, I've made arguments for why government should not have the legal authority to steal (tax).  Many call this a necessary evil.  Though forceful acts committed amongst groups have the same results as when committed amongst individuals.  Something we know to be "evil" has a way of doing that.

Most people upon reading this far might say, "I like the concept, but what does this mean in the real world?"  If we rid ourselves of institutionalized theft, what is the alternative?

We realize that many goods and services are provided for properly by the market.  Grocery stores sell us food, and plumbers fix our pipes.  We don't need government to provide these for us.  Some goods and services are provided by government and many understand that these can be provided better by the market, such as education and retirement planning.  Turning these over to the market is generally rather simple.

But there are those things that we see as "public goods", things that government has generally always provided and understandably we have no concept of how the market could provide these goods and services.  These include police, courts, prisons, fire protection, roads, environmental quality, and national defense.  What would society look like if government didn't provide these services, and what alternatives would be available?  As mentioned previously, a good or service provided for by the market cannot be predicted exactly, because the market is shaped by consumer demand.  No doubt many options will be tried, but the one that works and provides what people want will be the one to stick around.

In the following parts, I'll describe ways that these services could be provided.  However, I will not claim that my solutions are the best possible outcomes as other minds working to solve the same problems will undoubtedly produce different and possibly superior alternatives if the necessity arises.  But I will demonstrate how they are better than what we have now.