[durasell]

I absolutely do not advocate a socialist style government. However, I do feel there are certain functions, such as police, fire fighters, etc. that government is better at providing.

[Durus]

Better?
The reason we formed our government was to protect our rights and property. With that as a given I would never suggest that police departments or fire fighters are in anyway socialistic, as long as local government is in control of said groups.

I'm not sure that either function is "better" served by government though. There are many cases of very successful privately run "police" and firefighters. Generally speaking I think any function is run better by a person who has the greatest motivation to succeed. The greatest motivators in business are profit and love of the job.