Railway Socialism and Safety

The recent Amtrak accident in Philadelphia should lead us to ask two questions: (1) why isn’t there competition within the railway sector, and (2) what is the safety record of state-owned and run railway systems compared to private-run systems. It is often said that privatizing passenger trains would lead to more accidents because greedy capitalists would sacrifice safety requirements for profits. Yet, there is no evidence that supports this assertion. In fact, the two safest railway networks in Europe (i.e., the Swedish and British systems) are open to competition.

Former Water Bureaucrat: End Water Subsidies and the Bureau of Reclamation

Dan Beard used to be commissioner of the US Bureau of Reclamation. Now he’s calling for the Bureau of Reclamation — the government agency that built dams throughout the west and controls water allocation to this day — to be abolished. The problem? He says that water subsidies and the lack of real prices in water are at the heart of it. He’s now the author of the new book Deadbeat Dams. 

The Monopolization and Collectivization of the Security Industry

Isn’t what has just been said about salt applicable to security? Isn’t this the history of all monarchies and all republics?

Everywhere, the production of security began by being organized as a monopoly, and everywhere, nowadays, it tends to be organized communistically.

Here is why.

Among the tangible and intangible commodities necessary to man, none, with the possible exception of wheat, is more indispensable, and therefore none can support quite so large a monopoly duty.

Nor is any quite so prone to monopolization.

Government and Society

But is it conceivable that the production of security could be organized other than as a monopoly or communistically? Could it conceivably be relegated to free competition?

The response to this question on the part of political writers is unanimous: No.

Why? We will tell you why.

Because these writers, who are concerned especially with governments, know nothing about society. They regard it as an artificial fabrication, and believe that the mission of government is to modify and remake it constantly.

The Divine Right of Kings and Majorities

If it were true that society were not naturally organized, if it were true that the laws which govern its motion were to be constantly modified or remade, the legislators would necessarily have to have an immutable, sacred authority. Being the continuators of Providence on earth, they would have to be regarded as almost equal to God. If it were otherwise, would it not be impossible for them to fulfill their mission? Indeed, one cannot intervene in human affairs, one cannot attempt to direct and regulate them, without daily offending a multitude of interests.

The Regime of Terror

Suppose nevertheless that the partisans of an artificial organization, either the monopolists or the communists, are right; that society is not naturally organized, and that the task of making and unmaking the laws that regulate society continuously devolves upon men, look in what a lamentable situation the world would find itself. The moral authority of governors rests, in reality, on the self-interest of the governed.

The Free Market for Security

Allow us now to formulate a simple hypothetical situation.

Note

Gustave de Molinari (March 3, 1819–January 28, 1912) was a Belgian-born economist associated with the French “économistes,” a group of laissez-faire liberals. Throughout his life, Molinari defended peace, free trade, freedom of speech, freedom of association, and liberty in all its forms. He was the originator of the theory of Market Anarchism.

Dedication

The interests of the consumer of any commodity whatsoever should always prevail over the interests of the producer.

— Gustave de Molinari

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