4 ms·

Right, but should you really be blaming the people who hire the extra private policemen, or the people who decide not to hire more public ones? It seems as tho

Right, but should you really be blaming the people who hire the extra private policemen, or the people who decide not to hire more public ones? It seems as though it's more effective to push for more public policemen. The same applies to firemen: it's more productive to push for more public firemen than to blame the people who hire private ones due to a shortage thereof.

enriquto 7y ago
Both are to blame. I'm not much of a statist, but if there's something that clearly must be assured by the government by means of taxation it is the police force and the firemen. If there's not enough police or firefighters, taxes must be raised or diverted from elsewhere. Morally, I think that the people who push for private security and firefighters are doing a net damage to society.
- big_chungus 7y ago
  I see how hiring policemen and firefighters is not a positive, but don't see how it's a negative. In other words, a state-provided service is not always perfectly on-time, but if I want to hire some private service with super-fast response time for my twenty million dollar beach-front property, why not? How does me hiring a private fireman _harm_ someone else? If anything, might it not reduce the load on public infrastructure?
  - enriquto 7y ago
    I said "pushing for private services" not actually hiring one. Of course, if it is only you who does that, then it is completely irrelevant, neither positive nor negative. Likewise, if you decide to throw all your garbage on a forest, it is neither positive nor negative. If it is only you who does that, it can be argued that its net effect is negligible, neither positive nor negative. Maybe a bit of purely aesthetic disgust for somebody who happens to walk by while you are throwing it. But that is all. If anything, it may reduce a little bit the load on public garbage collection.

enriquto 7y ago

Both are to blame. I'm not much of a statist, but if there's something that clearly must be assured by the government by means of taxation it is the police force and the firemen. If there's not enough police or firefighters, taxes must be raised or diverted from elsewhere. Morally, I think that the people who push for private security and firefighters are doing a net damage to society.

big_chungus 7y ago
I see how hiring policemen and firefighters is not a positive, but don't see how it's a negative. In other words, a state-provided service is not always perfectly on-time, but if I want to hire some private service with super-fast response time for my twenty million dollar beach-front property, why not? How does me hiring a private fireman _harm_ someone else? If anything, might it not reduce the load on public infrastructure?
- enriquto 7y ago
  I said "pushing for private services" not actually hiring one. Of course, if it is only you who does that, then it is completely irrelevant, neither positive nor negative. Likewise, if you decide to throw all your garbage on a forest, it is neither positive nor negative. If it is only you who does that, it can be argued that its net effect is negligible, neither positive nor negative. Maybe a bit of purely aesthetic disgust for somebody who happens to walk by while you are throwing it. But that is all. If anything, it may reduce a little bit the load on public garbage collection.