The End of Privatization

An article in last month's Governing magazine describes various states' discovery that, in fact, the privatization of government services does not necessarily result in cost savings, and they are no longer making privatization decisions based on "ideology", but fiscal realities. Imagine. North Carolina, Nevada and Michigan have come around to the fact that government is not the enemy, as some folks would have it. Dopey Grover Norquist, who never saw an answer too simple to believe, wants to shrink government "so small it can be drowned in a bathtub." Here's Bill Moyers on the remark:

As a citizen I don't like the consequences of this crusade, but you have to respect the conservatives for their successful strategy in gaining control of the national agenda. Their stated and open aim is to change how America is governed - to strip from government all its functions except those that reward their rich and privileged benefactors. They are quite candid about it, even acknowledging their mean spirit in accomplishing it. Their leading strategist in Washington - the same Grover Norquist – has famously said he wants to shrink the government down to the size that it could be drowned in a bathtub. More recently, in commenting on the fiscal crisis in the states and its affect on schools and poor people, Norquist said, "I hope one of them" – one of the states – "goes bankrupt." So much for compassionate conservatism. But at least Norquist says what he means and means what he says. The White House pursues the same homicidal dream without saying so. Instead of shrinking down the government, they're filling the bathtub with so much debt that it floods the house, water-logs the economy, and washes away services for decades that have lifted millions of Americans out of destitution and into the middle-class. And what happens once the public's property has been flooded? Privatize it. Sell it at a discounted rate to the corporations.

(Read the rest here)

This is the New Patriotism, where holding the government in contempt and suspicion is the Good, and the idea of a government "of the people, by the people and for the people" is just idealistic and naive and girly.

Ronald Reagan's poisonous remark that "government is the problem", is the simple answer that comes with a handy scapegoat built right in. Government is the solution, however, when it comes to shifting wealth from the many to the few, shielding multinationals from responsibility, or surveilling the populace. These days, a remark like that made to or by the wrong person could earn you a visit from the FBI.