Dr. Murphey’s presentation on law and order through voluntary exchange gave me a whole new perspective on privatization. He made good arguments on how voluntary exchange would work efficiently. With that being said, the concept of no central government or public police can be frightening. However, the power is taken away for an essentially “too big to fail governing body” so this allows for unique problem solving. All this power would essentially be transferred to insurance agencies and hired enforcement. The advantages to not having central law enforcement could mean that you don’t have to get speeding tickets anymore. At least you’re not getting stopped for one because insurance agencies would make you have gps tracking and just increase your rate. Also, in the case of crimes insurance companies consult with one another. Along with that you also can have a fairer and speedier trail. This is because you don’t have to wait for a backlogged trail waiting list as we have in the status quo.
On these topics I do agree that we could potentially see quicker and fairer trails. However, there is too much opportunity for that freedom of power to go unregulated. I believe it is too likely that it will be abused instead of used fairly. The counter argument could be made well then people just wouldn’t use those specific companies/people but if they grow to large you have nothing else to turn to. I something like this were ever to happen it most definitely would not be in the U.S., but I see opportunity in developing/startup countries. For an example it thinks that in South Africa this would be a great to have privatized law. The current government is very corrupt, and the wealthier population doesn’t have fair trial. Also, they can’t call the police to protect their property because they would just steal it. This has the potential to be different if those in the community funded their own law enforcement that protected their interests.
This gives unique narratives for public goods such as roads, water, power, sewer, and all other essential infrastructure. There would be more companies competing with each other to offer the best services they could. This allows for a more sustainable community model, where peoples interests are truly valued. This is again because companies are going to supply the demand for whatever the public sees as a necessary investment. This would allow for communities to be built around the values of its citizens and other communities alike. These values can be different, and they can be competitive, but competition drives innovation. So, I see where the concept of law and order through voluntary exchange is plausible in society. But we probably won’t see it happening in the U.S.
Privatization and free enterprise are not a new idea but the areas of life it can be applied to continue to fascinate me. In cases of education for example the only reason we have such a divide is the sole fact that there are two different types of education: public or private. Whereas in an all private atmosphere you have a competitive education model to puts the interest of those who attend at its core. So hopefully you can see how it can be beneficial. I am all for less government and more individual rights and freedoms because I believe the government is overstretching its boundaries. People who argument against more freedoms and less government I believe don’t truly have an understanding of enterprise.
All that being said I enjoyed the presentation by Dr. Murphey and the class discussion that followed. It has helped me broaden my understanding on how privatization can be applied universally. The class discussion lets me see both sides of the arguments for and against the idea of free enterprise. It is a nice experience to be able to respectively disagree with someone else and still have a valid argument. I look forward to the continuation of our discussions on various extremist views on how enterprises and the business world could/should look. Coming from an agricultural background, it is interesting to see the views of fellow classmates that grew up in a different environment. There are things that they have believe to be one way that actually is different and vice versa. I have also presented these discussion topics to get my parents perspective on the subject matters and that makes for an interesting dinner table discussion. I enjoyed this modules topic and look forward to the next.
