[BitWielder1]

...police and fire departments... Could be privatized but it's possibly an acceptable use of taxpayer money.
...public education... Not working very well, is it? Needs private competition.
...social security... Bankrupt. Nuff said.
...insurance plans... Bloated and Looted. Private is better.
...those who espouse free-market ideology are hypocrites. Who is the hypocrite? Free market works, socialism fails and more socialism does not make it any better.

[mlocher]

Excellent response and analysis. I would only add that the more the federal government is involved, the worse the program is. Local governments can sometimes be effective.

[ShadowAce]

Private is better.

That's not an argument, that's an opinion.

While I agree with it, it's not a strong argument.

[ShadowAce]

The one argument I've been having with a socialist is federally funded highways.

He claims I'm a hypocrite for espousing very limited gov't while still using interstate highways and other federally funded roads.

My position, though very unrealistic at this point, is that federal gov't should be responsible for national defense and nothing else.

[wintertime]

...public education... Not working very well, is it? Needs private competition.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Government K-12 school needs to be **abolished**!

Simply by attending a government K-12 school a child learns that the government has the power to take money from his neighbor to pay for a service his parents want tuition-free.

In other words, regardless of what is taught in the government school, the child become comfortable with having the government take his neighbor's money that he then uses.

Well?...If the government can take money from a neighbor for schooling why not a thousand other wants and needs?

It was INEVITABLE that our grandparents, parents, and great grandparents voted in Franklin D. Roosevelt! After just one to three generations of making children comfortable with socialism we had the following:

** The IRS
** Direct election of senators
** Unions
** Feminism
** The federal reserve
** The complete distortion of the constitutional phrase “general welfare”
** the failed League of Nations followed by the U.N.
** Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal
** Johnson's Great Society
** The abolishment of the gold standard
** The Department of Education

While introducing private competition is certainly a worthy first step, the goal must be the complete shut down of all the government K-12 schools.