The Dec. 15 issue of U.S. News & World Report contains a Viewpoint letter that’s worth sharing. It lays out, very clearly, the two ways to approach a public need. It comes in response to a pro-con feature between Democrat strategist Paul Begala and former Republican House member Tom DeLay about one-party rule of government. John S. Ferguson of Troy, New Hampshire writes as follows below.
To really appreciate the point, let’s leave the politics aside and substitute “free market” for “Republican” and “big government” for Democrat.
Paul Begala says, “There is not a Republican way to pick up the trash.” I disagree. The Republican way is to let private trash haulers compete for customers. Each of us can choose to pay a competitive rate or haul our own stuff to a landfill, transfer station, or recycling station, thus saving a few bucks. The Democrats’ way to pick up the trash is to create a Department of Sanitation, staff it with several layers of redundant administrators, overpay everyone involved, fund it with property taxes, and tell the public its trash removal is free. Mr. Begala, like many liberals, fails to understand one of life’s basic truths: “There ain’t no free lunch!”
