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Communicating Liberty - The best tips and tools for spreading freedom

How would police, fire, and emergency services be funded and operated in a libertarian society?

Published May 31, 2011 in Short Answers by Mary Ruwart

Question

I've really enjoyed reading your answers; it has given me a lot to think about. I do have a lingering question. In a libertarian society, how would the police, fire and emergency services be funded and operated? Would I have to haggle with the various fire companies to find out who charges the least -- all while my house is burning down?

Answer

Of course not! Most insurance companies would probably require you to have a contract with a private fire station in order to get good rates. Most lenders would require insurance just as they do today.

Private ambulance providers already have subscribers in many municipalities. While subscribers pay little or nothing when they need emergency service, non-subscribers can get immediate service at higher (set) rates. Healthy people who don't anticipate many ambulance trips win by paying only when they use the service; the chronically ill pay less by becoming subscribers. Prices are kept low through competition. Everyone wins!

Private security could be, and already is, supplied in various ways as well. In some neighborhoods in San Francisco, residents voluntarily contribute to hiring a police officer to provide foot patrol. Reminderville, Ohio once hired Rural/Metro police, who decreased crime by 95% and cost by 50% just by instituting preventative measures.

For more detail, see Chapter 16 in my book, Healing Our World. The Advocates carries the 2003 edition, and the 1992 edition is available as a free download at Ruwart.com.

Dr. Ruwart's outstanding books Healing Our World and Short Answers to the Tough Questions are available at the Advocates Liberty Store.

Showing 3 Comments

Pubilshed June 25, 2011 by Michael

Instead of making public saftey organizations such as Fire, EMS, And LE 100% Private. Isnt there some way to reach a middle ground? Reform the current system so it works better for the people, or give people the option of opting out of paying taxes,and contracting with private company instead. This would still allow competition, give people the freedom of choice as to where their money goes, and solve alot of the problems that could occur with going strictly with private companies.

Pubilshed September 15, 2012 by Petty

I think that Mr Keith Geary, needs to look at his own political views and movniattois before commenting on other's political views. And if they are politically motivated, it is because we have views that are not about the privatisation of education, and removing any local accountability from the local community and Council. The self-aggrandizing of a superhead , with the complicit approval of a Board of Governors who purport to act in the interest of the community, deserves to be questioned and challenged. Mr Jack Brown artist in residence at Tidemill School, and a Pro Academy Teacher explicitly said that the financial system were sound-this has been found to wanting in the light of recent developments, and me thinks, about the purely politically inspired comment Mr Keith Geary refers to when talking about the temporary withdrawal by the Board of Governors attempt to make Tidemill an Academy School. And academies are not a political issue? Mr Michael Gove thinks not!, there are political intentions. Big business is looking to get peice of the action! Do we want the Carpet Empire of Harris' running our schools? I choose to think that there are larger forces at work other than Mr Keith Geary or Mr Mark Elms.I am also intrigued by Mr Keith Geary comment We know what the challenge is against the plans . What are they? In the interest of democracy? Is the new plan about waiting till the furore dies down and rushing it through, and hoping that no one notices?This was supposed to be a straightforward process, as we have had to hear on many occasions from Mr Mark Elms and Mr Keith Geary and their various voice-pieces.And for someone who knows I am perplexed at their inability to add up or at least check that the figures were true.

Pubilshed September 15, 2012 by Priinces

Thoughts on this poem?I lie low; a sheet of carbon paper,a piece of theard without the garment,a drop of water coloured black and clouded,This water\'s brittle and it breaks,a flimsy barrier not rebuiltand it engulfs, drains and suffocatesevery breath of air it touches. Love and hate are a junctionset beyond a row of traffic lights.Red for anger.Green for envy.Amber for your eyes’ subtle warmth.So beautiful,I hate you.Miss Butterfly Kisses.Hidden moth; camouflage.Like an army defence and you attack.Without warning.You call this friendly fire.It’s complete destruction.Like a child with a toy it can\'t work yet.Ragdoll.Puppet.Outgrown and discarded.A kiss with the wrong colour lipstick.Oh, hell, you\'ve been there, done that,got the t-shirt with my heart on the sleeve.And I guess these thoughts in my head are someone else\'s.Someone who sounds like I used to.Before you changed me.Before all of this.And I can vaguely hear a heart beat but no,that can\'t be mine either.I look at you and I see something different something which seems to kick me in the stomach,just to make sure that I\'m alive.You know it does too;I can see it in your lipstick,that smile you make it form,the way you coyly bite your lip as though you\'re embarrassed. But you\'re never embarrassed.Precision is your middle name,with each perfectly filed finger nailrunning themselves down a black board in my mind,you are scratched ink.We could make a perfect picture out theredark lipstick and black death,with a plague of shadowed kisses.Ashed candle light.Patterned dust.Infectious everything. A widow spider trapped in darkness,in a glass,leaving me suspended in your bloody webwith the thought of your paralysing bloody eyesand looksand walkand talkand lips.Sacred poison, like addictive emptiness.Breathe;it makes me choke and I want to know just how this feels.This absolute suffocation.This beautiful destruction.This lack of you;carbon monoxide to my veins andtoxins etched over everything.Engulfed again.Perhaps if I can\'t see.I lie on my back with footprints all down me.Black paint and red sky,with you rounding up my emotions.Now I wear your name on my forehead where ever the hell I am. And still you stand here,on my toes,with your hand on my waist,your breath on my cheek For the life of me I wouldn\'t lose this moment in little,frail oblivion.What would be the point in numbing your sting?i\'m sixteen.

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