SELL
THE ROADS: THE PRIVATIZATION OF ROADS & HIGHWAYS
Editorials about "shortchanging Amtrak" are always
shortsighted and socialistic. Anyone who believes that socialism helps
transportation usually makes the same mistake about socialism in other areas.
Government harms transportation just as it harms everything. http://rexcurry.net/roads.html Everyone would already have better rail transit,
mass transit and general transportation if government/socialism had stayed
out of the transportation business. Official policies helped destroy
rail transportation, mass transit and other transportation alternatives.
Government subsidies to roads and bus systems displaced trolleys and private
railroads. http://rexcurry.net/tag1c.jpg
In the past, private enterprise was at the forefront
of mass transit. Private railroads put Florida on the map, with Flagler's
railroad going south through Florida all the way to Key West, and Henry
B. Plant's railroad putting Tampa on the map. http://rexcurry.net/moneyribbon.jpg
Of course, capitalists also created cars and roads.
The Gandy Bridge and Ben T. Davis Beach, were both named after the capitalists
responsible for the Gandy Bridge and the Courtney Campbell Causeway, respectively,
George T. Gandy and Ben T. Davis. George Gandy even lived in his toll house
that straddled his privately owned bridge.
The preeminence of private mass transit changed when
government took over the road-building business. Many neighborhoods
were literally torn down as part of transportation "planning" and the construction
of Interstate highways. Public highways and local government's monopoly bus systems displaced
trolleys and private railroads, leaving historic depots decaying.
Hypocritical people want the government to preserve old depots that their
policies left idle. Simultaneously, they want taxes for Amtrak and
rail systems to imitate the private rail systems that their policies ruined.
Today, local governments operate socialized bus monopolies
so poor they discourage ridership, while outlawing free market mass transit
alternatives. The only true monopoly is a government/socialist monopoly.
As an example, Hillsborough County's government spending increased eight
times (800%) over the last 10 years even though Hillsborough's population
increased only 29% over that same time frame. Despite the dramatic increase
in population, ridership on Hillsborough's bus monopoly has decreased over
the same 10 year time frame.
Even so, local taxes encourage people to live in rural
areas and commute to city areas. Zoning laws create harshly segregated
land uses that also encourage increased commuting. After causing irrational
planning and increased commuting, politicians use the problems as excuses
for even more government interference, such as 'growth management' laws.
Government is on the expressway to transportation chaos.
Government cannot provide efficient, quality transportation alternatives
any better than it can provide food, clothing and shelter. Socialism
is as bad in transportation as it is elsewhere. A society of economic
and personal freedom should not have an inconsistent transportation system.
The only way rail systems will ever work is under the
same conditions when they originally worked - when all transportation was
private enterprise. Ultimately, government must be removed from all transportation,
including the ownership and subsidizing of roads. Until then, many transportation
problems will be solved if bus monopolies are privatized, anti-jitney laws
are repealed and the market is opened to competing bus lines and deregulated
taxis.
Until that day, capitalism will remain at the forefront
of transportation alternatives. While government plans to spend millions
on grandiose schemes, private companies reduce all forms of transit with
faxes, e-mail, computer modems, satellite communications, cellular phones.
Like an ad for a telephone company said: "The personal computer was invented
in a house. Not in an office. Work at home. Telecommunicate."
People who support government's transportation schemes are always years behind
the private sector. People who support government rail schemes have
forgotten how many years (centuries?) ahead the private sector was.
(the above was originally sent on April 2, 1995 to Edwin A. Roberts, Jr.,
Editorial Page Editor for the Tampa Tribune in response to his editorial)
http://rexcurry.net is one of the first websites to use the phrase "sell
the roads" in a sincere positive manner. An internet search indicates
that the phrase "sell the roads" produces 48 results on the web, and 210
results in usegroups, and most results are off-topic.
Highways in the USA are another example of American politicians following
the path of German national socialism. End vestiges of the National Socialist
German Workers Party in today's government.
Highways in the USA are another example of American politicians following
the path of German national socialism. End vestiges of the National Socialist
German Workers Party in today's government.
The Mises Institute is pleased to introduce Walter Block's remarkable new
treatise on private roads, a 494-page book that will cause you to rethink
the whole of the way modern transportation networks operate. It is bold,
innovative, radical, compelling, and shows how free-market economic theory
is the clarifying lens through which to see the failures of the state and
see the alternative that is consistent with human liberty.
He shows that even the worst, off-the-cuff scenario of life under private
ownership of roads would be fantastic by comparison to the existing reality
of government-ownership of roads, which is awful in ways we don't entirely
realize until Block fully explains it (think: highway deaths).
But that is only the beginning of what Professor Block has done. He has
made a lengthy, detailed, and positive case that the privatization of roads
would be socially optimal in every way. It would save lives, curtail pollution,
save us (as individuals!) money, save us massive time, introduce accountability,
and make transportation a pleasure instead of a huge pain in the neck.
Because this is the first-ever complete book on this topic, the length
and detail are absolutely necessary. He shows that this is not some libertarian
pipe-dream but the most practical application of free-market logic. Block
is dealing with something that confronts us everyday. And in so doing, he
illustrates the power of economic theory to take an existing set of facts
and help you see them in a completely different way.
What's also nice is that the prose has great passion about it, despite
the great scholarly detail. He loves answering the objections (aren't roads
public goods? Aren't roads too expensive to build privately?) and making
the case, fully aware that he has to overcome a deep and persistent bias
in favor of public ownership. The writer burns with a moral passion on the
subjects of highway deaths and pollution issues. His "Open Letter to Mothers
Against Drunk Driving" is a thrill to read!
People have known that Block had been working on this book for many years,
and some chapters have been seen in journals here and there. But there is
something thrilling about seeing it all put together in one place. It comes
together as a battle plan against government roads and a complete roadmap
for a future of private transportation.
edward bellamy 
francis bellamy 
rex curry 
libertarian 
pledge of allegiance 
swastika