Privatization and Democracy
The United States faces a problem in running efficient systems for their people. The United States is one of the richest countries in the world, yet the systems of democracy throughout the country are struggling. Systems of healthcare, housing, food and resource distribution, and transportation are all lacking in terms of serving the people. Democracies are governments that are governed by the people, and political leaders are given their power by the citizens, who can also deem leaders unfit and can remove them from office. Years have gone by where the American system of democracy has left the people without justice and without adequate support.
This problem lies in the government and the private sector, which claims to be able to handle public services more efficiently than the federal government (Tarnoff). The private sector has become more involved in the daily activities of the private citizen. Tarnoff mentions how a company named "Reefill" charges subscribers to fill up water bottles at various locations (Tarnoff). Tarnoff also mentions the rise of Uber and Lyft services, and how their rise is accounted to the lack of sustainable transportation systems throughout the United States. In the article, Tarnoff also states how "years of neoliberalism have corrupted our ability to view things in non-economic terms"(Tarnoff). One example of this statement is the healthcare system of the United States and that of the United Kingdom. In the UK healthcare is provided to the citizens as a public service, the United States healthcare system is heavily privatized. The results in the two countries are significant, US citizens are often hit with hefty medical bills they cannot afford, whereas healthcare is mostly covered by the government in the UK.
The unwillingness of the American government to make necessary resources publicly available for all citizens is concerning. As I stated before, democracies are created to serve the interests of the people, if the interests of a nation are to increase profits, then the needs of the people are lost along the way. The United States government spends millions of dollars on its defense systems, and will erect man made protrusions to keep homeless people away. The goals of the American government do not put the needs of the people first, and honestly its time we change that.
Link to Article: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/21/privatizing-public-services-trump-democracy
This was a great read! I especially enjoyed this quote you used from Tarnoff: "years of neoliberalism have corrupted our ability to view things in non-economic terms." While I am not familiar with Tarnoff, this idea reminds me of an interesting book I read titled "Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?" by Mark Fisher. In one of his chapters, Fisher describes a concept called Business Ontology, which refers to the idea "that everything in society, including healthcare and education, should be run as a business." I've been meaning to re-read it (since it's been a couple of years), but I do think there's a similarity there between Fisher's work and the ideas that you are talking about in this article. The media, as always, plays a significant role in manufacturing the idea that there's no alternative to neoliberalism, whether it's through soft euphemisms and cliches (such as deregulation, right-to-work, and freedom of choice) or through think-pieces by organizations like the American Enterprise Institute. Unsurprisingly, such rhetoric serves as a ideological justification for slashing social safety nets and further privatizing industries/infrastructure at the expense of the working-class. I could honestly rant all day about how bad right-wing libertarianism/ancapism sucks, but I don't want to take too much of your time. Overall, this was a great post! I look forward to hearing more from you in the future!
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