Enron, Andersen (Enron’s auditors), Tyco, Adelphia, Global Crossing and how many others have shown that the profit motive can go mad. Why would we really want to entrust government services to that system? I don’t see proposals from most of those pushing the concept of privatization to reign the private companies and those who run them in hard if caught in abuses. Only with extremely strong systems in place to ensure transparency and crushing penalties should they be caught should it even be a possibility to privatize most government services.

The key is striking a balance between the two. It’s much easier in very small communities. The northern spanish village where my mothers cousin lives, the lifstyle is very conservative but at the same time they unconsiously function as a commune. She has cows, so she milks them and has an excess of milk. So she goes around to neighbors and gives them milk, and they in return give her meat, fruit etc. All excess is sold at the market for other goods. They don’t really think about it, it’s just “always been that way”. The way we depend on one another gets much muddier as populations grow larger, which is when government steps in.

The ideal is a government large enough to provide the very basics in case of need, but not so large that it prevents you from getting, if you have the inclination and means, better goods and services.