The central issue which defines American politics today -- as well as the future politics of the twenty-first century -- is the conflict between the "public" vs. the "private." Should we utilize government as a means to address our major social and economic problems? Or should we emphasize market-based initiatives, the private sector, to resolve issues like unemployment and poverty? Nearly every significant policy debate since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 has come down to this question: Should government or the corporations be most powerful in determining the future of the country?
The list of examples illustrating the public sector vs. private sector is virtually endless. In health care, for instance, Clinton's 1994 proposal; for managed health care tried to combine limited government mandates with privately-run, health provider corporations. Instead of pushing vigorously for the single-payer, comprehensive healthcare system we need, Clinton tried to please private sector interests, and failed.
In public education, a debate is currently waging over the issue of vouchers and whether parents should be subsidized to send their children to private schools. In public colleges, cutbacks in state and local funding has forced higher tuitions and fees, reducing the access of many racial minorities and working people to higher education.
In the areas of public housing and homelessness, state and city governments are aggressively cutting back funds. The federal government's public housing initiatives have been somewhat better during Clinton's administration than under Reagan and Bush. Yet increasingly, politicians argue that government needs to get out of the business of building and managing public housing, and that the private market should determine the quality and availability of housing.
Regarding issues of personal safety, "privatization" has meant the growth of the private security guard industry. Today in the US, there are 1.5 million full-time and part-time security guards -- compared to only 55,000 police officers. Corporations, private country clubs, and exclusive planned communities are guarded by private security personnel. Increasingly, matters of law enforcement are moving away from the public sector, where at least civilian review boards and similar agencies provide a check against police misconduct.
In the areas of culture, some of the fiercest battles between public vs. private interests have been waged: efforts to destroy the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and public television; the reductions in funding for public museums, parks and recreational facilities, and cultural education programs for children and adults. We can see this destructive process by focusing on public libraries. Severe reductions in staff and funding have crippled public library services in virtually every major American city. Increasingly, large corporate bookstore chains have taken the place of public libraries -- except that consumers can only have legitimate access if they have the money to purchase books. In the market economy, both knowledge and beauty are always for sale. The value of everything is what price bears in the marketplace.
Of course, the most devastating struggles between the public vs. private sectors have been about jobs. The Reagan Republicans and "Contract with America" ultra-rightists declare that government has no moral responsibility to create jobs for the unemployed, to provide vocational training and social services for the indigent. The poor must learn to fend for themselves.
The trends toward commercialization and privatization now impact the smallest matters of daily life. For example, the Federal Express branch office in my Manhattan neighborhood refuses to accept cash as payment -- only credit cards. Many commercial establishments now prefer payment by credit cards or bank debit cards. Millions of poor people are already denied credit at banks, and increasingly, in the future will be refused access to a whole range of goods and services.
Progressive politics must put the welfare of people ahead of the corporations and personal profit. That's why the struggle to maintain and to expand public institutions and public spaces is central to the achievement of a more democratic society.
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