Below you will find a question posed to me by my instructor in my Master of Public Administration class and my response. I would love to hear any and all feedback especially from those that feel they can give me a valid reason why the government should not outsource a specific good or service. Please provide specific examples and legitimate reasons. Instructors question: Lucas, I like your response, but while arguable, I dont think that any and all jobs can or should be outsourced. Please decide what services may be key services and what are not key services and then explain, with a complete explanation to support your position, why you think outsourcing is good or bad for government and under what conditions. Specific examples may aid you with developing an impressive answer. My response: Hi Instructor Consoli, I stand by my statement that all key services can and should be outsourced. However, I am happy to expound on the reasons for my principled position. To begin with, our government was designed to have elected officials and political appointees. It was never intended to have the bloated bureaucratic agencies that exist today. While I acknowledge that the world has become more complicated in regards to economics as stated in our text. I don’t not subscribe to the notion that there are certain jobs that ONLY the government can do. This idea is based on a false premise that government is somehow nobler than private enterprise. This is simply not the case; we see examples of how politicians, bureaucrats, and government workers are just as easily persuaded by external pressures as the private sector is. (i.e. recent IRS, NSA, EPA and DOJ scandals This is not to say that we should not have public administrators. To the contrary, I believe that public administration should have a vital role in our government but should be limited to the elected officials, political appointees and their staff. In other words, the Legislative Branches write and pass laws, the Executive Branches (presidents, governors, mayors and political appointees) devise policy to execute those laws. However, once those laws and public policies have been created the actual delivering of goods and services should be turned over to the private sector, which is far better equipped to provide goods and services at the best possible quality for the lowest possible cost. The combination of public policy, competition, government oversight and free market accountability would ensure that political and social goals are met. It is not the job of the government to provide jobs, goods and services, only to create an environment that produces jobs, goods and services. To provide you with a specific example of how government benefits greatly from outsourcing I will use NASA as an example. Most people are under the false assumption that NASA took America to the moon. In reality, the majority of the program was developed by outsourced private companies. One of which was North American Aviation. NASA largely operated as oversight and administration role. If NASA, had not outsourced to the hundreds of companies we may not have the space program that exists today. In contrast, one of the most dreaded agencies in the government is the DMV. The service is poor and overcharged even though it is funded by the government. I have learned that I can accomplish most of the things I need to do with the DMV through AAA insurance with much better quality of service. Imagine if the entire DMV was outsourced and companies had to actually produce quality service or they would lose their contract. This is a world I expect would be far more efficient and would benefit society as a whole. There are only two valid exceptions to this system that I can think of; the military and law enforcement. The reason for these exceptions is I find it hard to imagine a world where private enterprise has a monopoly on the use of force. However, once again this is still based on a false assumption that government is somehow nobler. The government and its officials are just as susceptible to abuse, fraud, corruption and tyranny as the private sector. Some may argue that there is actually no legitimate reason why the private sector could not properly execute these roles with proper government oversight. But the uniqueness of the power of the use of force makes this a dangerous endeavor. So I will concede to absolute government administration of law enforcement and military based on the premise that The People would utilize their right to bear arms if a tyrannical government were to ever try to turn law enforcement and military forces against its own people. I look forward to your response and I am open to debate on any other government services that you feel can or should only be provided by government, if you would be so kind as to list the service and the reason why the private sector could not or should not provide that good or service In closing I would like to leave the class with another quote from Milton Friedman that I am sure you are familiar with, “And what does reward virtue? Do you think the communist commissar rewards virtue? Do you think Hitler rewards virtue? Pardon me, if you will excuse me, do you think American Presidents reward virtue? Do they choose their appointees on the basis of the virtue of the people appointed or on the basis of their political clout? Is it really true that political self-interest is nobler somehow than economic self-interest? You know, I think youre taking a lot of things for granted. Just tell me where in the world do you find these angels who are going to organize society for us?”`~Milton Friedman For the full debate between Phil Donahue and Milton Friedman click on the video link below: youtube/watch?v=Vpq3Cv5Wen8
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 21:01:56 +0000
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