Why is a government-run business run as a not-for-profit enterprise less honest or valuable than a privately owned and for-profit company? This is a question of semantics and a forced political comparison.  The conservative controlled Republican Party that runs this nation’s government has made “public” look bad and “private” the salvation of America. The conservative “intellectuals have defined the battle ground.  Their message is, “Government is bad” and “For profit is the American Way”.

Any other country in the world that has near the same standard of living as the United States and is reasonably free of corruption does a better job of delivering services to its citizens. The conservatives are selling the delusional ideational cover of “private will be more honest and productive than monopolies owned and run by ‘government’”. The American people are buying this nonsense. They do not see that not all monopolies are the same.  Some of them are perfectly fine and others are in service to the few who know how to buy and sell shares rather than get down in the dirt to grow things

and shovel it to build a civilization.  The lie is one that in Capitalist America everyone who has a little money to invest can own a part of business and as it grows so, their wealth will expand like the Martha Stewarts and the Wachtels of the corporate world.  What is ignored, is that the private sector soon forces all the little investors out and new “private” monopolies begin to rival in size and power the “natural” or “public” monopolies that once gave satisfactory service to consumers.

Do you remember the old telephone, water, electric and Gas and transportation companies?  They serviced the needs of all people at low cost and cheerfully, expeditiously and satisfactorily handled all problems and complaints.  The public school system educated most of its students and like most customers of the phone, electric and gas and public transportation “public” services were powered, connected and carried from place to place without problems.

Making “public” over into “private” does not make anything better except for a few owners becoming richer.  All service, when it ages and breaks down does so in the same way our knees, backs, eyesight and hearing fail over time. Taking the profit motive away in companies providing public services does not make the service more or less better. The conservative base in America is descended from the Royalist loyalists during the Colonial period. Their descendants have come up with a “Whammy”. 

They are successfully selling the idea that if it is Liberal and run by Washington it has to be inefficient and corrupt. Ignoring Enron and misguided individuals, the profit motive and privately run services are the answer.  The awesome conclusion is that, though wrong, they have won the debate over private plans for medical services, prisons, and all other public entities – for, no one is listening.