The Shotgun Blog
« Portugal's success story | Main | Elections Canada says "No don't give us money" »
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Reducing the Size of the Federal Government
Jim Cotton over at Manitobapost.com recently took a look at the Canadian Constitution and what it says are the functions of the Federal Government.
I am what you might call a minarchist, I am for reducing the size of government to be very, very small. Part of the reason I feel this way is because I feel the evidence shows that when government involves itself in the lives and business of people that want to act on a voluntary basis (which is how most people interact) that it leads to undesirable results. Some of those undesired results are taxing your labour, spending that money on things you may disagree with and wouldn't fund voluntarily on your own, using that money to oppress people in their personal choices, and on and on.
So, when I looked at Jim Cottons summary of the roles of the Federal Government I see many, many things that the government has no legitimate role in being part of, and areas where the free market can provide that service in a superior way. If the scope of government is reduced, then less money would be used to run the government, which means more money stays in your pocket.
So I'm going to look at some of the items in the Canadian Constitution and give a brief response as to the free market solution for each. Keeping in mind that this is for the Federal Government only, Provincial and Municipal governments still involve themselves in your lives.
Keep in mind this is only one section of the Constitution (Powers of the Parliament), there is much more to it.
2. The Regulation of Trade and Commerce - regulation brings up the costs of doing business. The free market is capable of self-regulation.
2A. Unemployment insurance - there are all sorts of private insurance; fire, house, business, property, there could be a market for Employment Insurance.
3. The raising of Money by any Mode or System of Taxation - by any mode, great, they can legally come to my house and rob my piggy bank, legal theft.
5. Postal Service - there are already other postal services out there, competition in first class mail has been made illegal by the feds, lets break the government monopoly and open it up to competition.
6. The Census and Statistics - there are already private organizations that do this (Nielsen Media Research for TV statistics for example) and there would be a market for an organization to provide this service since it quite useful.
7. Militia, Military and Naval Service, and Defence - militias don't need to be government run, national defense seem to be a proper role of a national government. Though what the feds do today isn't defense, it's nation building and meddling in the affairs of other countries. We would resent it if it was done to us, and Canada shouldn't do it to other people.
9. Beacons, Buoys, Lighthouses, and Sable Island - seems to me that companies that use the sea and ports would have an interest in making sure that they had safe passage. They can fund their own infrastructure. Perhaps the Provincial governments of that area may have an involvement, doesn't seem that it would need to be a federal function.
10. Navigation and Shipping - see 9
11. Quarantine and the Establishment and Maintenance of Marine Hospitals - see 9
12. Sea Coast and Inland Fisheries - see 9
13. Ferries between a Province and any British or Foreign Country or between Two Provinces - see 9
14. Currency and Coinage - this may seem like a legitimate role but government being in charge of the money system leads to many of the economic problems we see in North America, such as inflation. There have been competing monetary systems in place in the U.S. (like the liberty dollar) but they have been shut down by the feds. Yes, there can even be competition in monetary systems and banks that issue the money.
15. Banking, Incorporation of Banks, and the Issue of Paper Money - see 14
16. Savings Banks - see 14
17. Weights and Measures - national standards are handy, but it amounts to the government telling business how to operate, rather than letting the business decide that on their own; a federal government is not needed to have standards. The electronics industry self-organizes to have common standards, with groups such as the Blue Ray Disc Association. Even with a seemingly benign federal duty such as this, it still requires a bureaucracy (Measurement Canada), paid bureaucrats, overhead, offices, etc, which raises the cost of running the government.
18. Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes - see 14
19. Interest - see 14
20. Legal Tender -see 14
21. Bankruptcy and Insolvency - legal protection for getting out of paying your debts; an abdication of personal responsibility, should be abolished.
22. Patents of Invention and Discovery - patents should be abolished, it is simply a monopoly on a concept and prevents other from using their own labour to produce.
23. Copyrights - copyright law is far too pervasive and complex, and has many lobbying groups trying to get their version of what they want protected put into law. Copyright can be handed simply the same as property laws.
24. Indians, and Lands reserved for the Indians - the federal government has no business in running the lives of a particular ethnic group. The Indian Act should and the Reserve system should be scrapped.
25. Naturalization and Aliens - perhaps a legit role here, but getting in and out of Canada should be easy. Perhaps only violent criminals should be kept out.
26. Marriage and Divorce - government has no legit role in controlling marriages, that should be between the parties that wish to get married. It can be handled by simple contracts with the government having no say.
28. The Establishment, Maintenance, and Management of Penitentiaries - government-run penitentiaries? Yikes. This can be a private business that may be charitable or for profit, if it's a service people want then there is a market for it.
Every role that the government takes on requires bureaucracy, bureaucrats, budgets, overhead, paperwork, etc.; you pay for it whether you use those services or not, whether they are run efficiently or not, whether they are corrupt or not, whether you object to them morally or not.
If you want to keep more money in your pocket and have more personal freedom, then advocate reducing the government to a very small size, we will all be better off.
-----------
I welcome feedback and I ask for civility in the exchange of comments. Vulgarity is discouraged. Please express yourself creatively with other language. We discuss ideas here, attacks on a person are discouraged.
Posted by Freedom Manitoba on September 1, 2009 in Canadian Politics | Permalink
Comments
I think all of these have merit. (I would be careful with dealing with patents unilaterally as it will result in private R&D spending in Canada to drop to zero and will result in Canada being excluded from any new technology for fear of intellectual property theft. Say good bye to RIM for example. This is the future.)
But the challenge now is to place this in a form that is politically palatable. It won't be done overnight and to think otherwise is being incredibly politically naive which is a major failing of the so called right wing.
As a start, I think many of these activities can be established as crown corporations with either majority or minority public ownership.
This is the way that utilities and other crown assets were eventually capitalized, monetized and ultimately divested and I think it is a model that would be acceptable to voters and taxpayers.
Posted by: beachgirl | 2009-09-01 11:38:53 AM
"But the challenge now is to place this in a form that is politically palatable."
Yep, still trying to figure out how to do that.
Posted by: Freedom Manitoba | 2009-09-01 12:27:09 PM
I just don't see how any of those things would save money. With your ideas there would be so many capitalistic monopolies. Regulation is always needed. And did you not notice what has happened lately in the United States with banking, auto industry, etc.?
Posted by: Bob Peloquin | 2009-09-01 12:53:13 PM
"With your ideas there would be so many capitalistic monopolies."
Nope. But we'd need tough laws to protect property rights to make sure corporations cannot lobby the gov't to steal from other citizens in order to install artifical barriers to entry (i.e. regulations).
"And did you not notice what has happened lately in the United States with banking, auto industry, etc.?"
Actually we did Bob. And we also noticed that banking is the most heavily regulated industry in the U.S. Are you aware of how the U.S. banking industry operates? Prices and volumes are centrally managed. Please explain how you can possibly then attribute the carnage to free markets.
Posted by: Charles | 2009-09-01 1:14:52 PM
"I just don't see how any of those things would save money."
They save YOUR money because in the free market you wouldn't be forced to pay for them. Currently I am paying for lighthouses on the coast? I live in Manitoba! The people using the services should be the ones paying for them.
" With your ideas there would be so many capitalistic monopolies."
These are already monopolies, government monopolies. Opening it to the free market allows competition, and you can choose which company to support.
"And did you not notice what has happened lately in the United States with banking, auto industry, etc.?"
Those industries were already heavily regulated. Plus, if business is bad, regulation won't save them. Bail-outs might, but that is a different topic.
Posted by: Freedom Manitoba | 2009-09-01 2:50:00 PM
I agree completely. The post office is a perfect example. Fed-ex, UPS etc all are private. If I send a package somewhere that is who I use. Why does the government need to be involved in this at all. Any time the government gets involved it means inefficiency, waste, a culture of entitlement and corruption. Oh and strikes.
The only way to have less corrupt/ineffective/waste of public money politicians around is to have less politicians around. Same goes with bureaucrats who may actually be worse.
Posted by: Bret | 2009-09-01 2:56:43 PM
...militias don't need to be government run,
Posted by Freedom Manitoba on September 1, 2009
Great idea. You could have a private army of 30,000 which would be equipped with F-18's, frigates and just about any other military gear they could get their hands on and whose only loyalty would be to the warlord that "owned" the company that paid them.
The electronics industry self-organizes to have common standards, with groups such as the Blue Ray Disc Association.
Posted by Freedom Manitoba on September 1, 2009
Geez, whatever happened to HD DVD? It went dead after Sony paid millions to the film and TV studio to standardize on Blu-Ray. So much for consumers getting choice.
Perhaps only violent criminals should be kept out.
Posted by Freedom Manitoba on September 1, 2009
Perhaps? So you are unsure about that. So "perhaps" OBL would be welcomed to Canada by libertarians? He could move to Manitoba and live next to you.
As I said may times before, when libertarians start to detail their policies the average Canadian sees them for what they really are; lunatics.
Posted by: The Stig | 2009-09-01 10:08:41 PM
I agree on nearly everything. I think some things should be patentable but not all of these crazy things. I mean really. I think if a compasny spends $50 million to cure cancer it should be allowed to own the cure for a specific time upon which anyone could make it.
I assume under your system anyone could make and sell it without spending anything on R & D? I would at least hope they would have to pay a license fee to the originator.
Posted by: GeronL | 2009-09-01 11:24:34 PM
"Geez, whatever happened to HD DVD? It went dead after Sony paid millions to the film and TV studio to standardize on Blu-Ray."
The argument is not that free markets never produce monopolies or oligopolies. It is that gov't regulations produce them where they need not exist.
Posted by: Charles | 2009-09-02 6:44:11 AM
"You could have a private army of 30,000 which would be equipped with F-18's"
Militias are citizen organized groups to provide defense, often unpaid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia
"Geez, whatever happened to HD DVD?"
People weren't buying it, Disney choose to use Blue-Ray and that killed it. It was a free market choice.
"Perhaps? So you are unsure about that."
I don't have all of the answers, there are few absolutes in this world.
"when libertarians start to detail their policies the average Canadian sees them for what they really are; lunatics."
Then that is a perception that libertarians may need to work towards changing.
Posted by: Freedom Manitoba | 2009-09-02 7:57:15 AM
People weren't buying it, Disney choose to use Blue-Ray and that killed it. It was a free market choice.
Posted by: Freedom Manitoba | 2009-09-02 7:57:15 AM
If you eliminate Play Station devices standalone HD DVD players outsold standalone Blu-ray players. Free market choice after Sony paid each of the film, TV studio's, BestBuy and Walmart millions to drop HD DVD. And it was Warner Bros. not Disney. So tell me how consumers benefit from a single proprietary standard?
Posted by: The Stig | 2009-09-02 11:22:09 AM
The argument is not that free markets never produce monopolies or oligopolies.
Posted by: Charles | 2009-09-02 6:44:11 AM
The discussion isn't about monopolies or oligopolies but rather technical standards which Freedom Manitoba believes are all right when industry colludes to create a single standard but not alright if the government does. Forcing a single standard on consumers is wrong whether it's done by industry or the government.
Posted by: The Stig | 2009-09-02 11:42:05 AM
Ontario should have no government at all because of its bigotry, Apartheid and slavery. Disown them, boycott their goods and drive them into the ground.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2009-09-02 11:46:30 AM
For f***'s sake, Pike, get a grip.
Posted by: Nothing New Under the Sun | 2009-09-02 12:27:09 PM
Until Ontario desegregates and learns to play by the rules, it should have no federal services - no international travel would be allowed, no banking, no inspections, no nothing. Maybe then the rich racists would behave themselves.
Posted by: Zebulon Pike | 2009-09-02 12:40:46 PM
For f***'s sake, Pike, get a grip.
Posted by: Nothing New Under the Sun | 2009-09-02 12:27:09 PM
The only thing Punk will ever have a grip of is the branch he's swinging from.
Posted by: The Stig | 2009-09-02 12:41:29 PM
So tell me how consumers benefit from a single proprietary standard?
Posted by: The Stig | 2009-09-02 11:22:09 AM
Not having to purchase multiple formats. Standards are a good thing, and industry can make those decisions, not govenrment.
Posted by: Freedom Manitoba | 2009-09-02 1:36:24 PM
Forcing a single standard on consumers is wrong whether it's done by industry or the government.
Posted by: The Stig | 2009-09-02 11:42:05 AM
There isn't a single stanard, media formats are constantly changing. In 10 years there will be a competitor to Blue-Ray and customers can choose.
You are not forced to buy DVD's or fund the operation of DVD's, unlike with the government, where even if you don't use their services you still ahve to pay, that is the difference.
Posted by: Freedom Manitoba | 2009-09-02 1:39:12 PM
Yep, still trying to figure out how to do that.
You won't be able to—not with this crop of voters. What good is a plan no one likes?
That you, Scott?
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2009-09-02 2:01:50 PM
"You won't be able to—not with this crop of voters."
Ther are things besides politican action that can be done to advocate for a certain position.
Yes, Freedom Manitoba is Scott.
Posted by: Freedom Manitoba | 2009-09-02 2:53:15 PM
Please note that the government did NOT close the Liberty Dollar! Nor was it "closed." Operations have been "suspended" until the Liberty Dollar Four are acquitted. See http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/members/forum.cgi?read=154588
Also, Liberty Dollar has just announced their new Liberty Gold + Card, a MasterCard backed by gold. See the above article.
Posted by: thunderbucks | 2009-09-02 4:28:51 PM
Not having to purchase multiple formats.
Posted by: Freedom Manitoba | 2009-09-02 1:39:12 PM
Consumers never had to buy multiple standards. Now Sony has made sure that they don't have a choice.
Posted by: The Stig | 2009-09-02 5:16:05 PM
Also, Liberty Dollar has just announced their new Liberty Gold + Card, a MasterCard backed by gold. See the above article.
Posted by: thunderbucks | 2009-09-02 4:28:51 PM
The "Liberty Dollar" is nothing but an MLM scheme. You pay about a 35% premium over the spot silver price when you buy a "Liberty Dollar". I sure as hell wouldn't buy one.
Posted by: The Stig | 2009-09-02 6:04:43 PM
Now Sony has made sure that they don't have a choice.
Posted by: The Stig | 2009-09-02 5:16:05 PM
Not true, you can purchase regular DVD's, Blue-Ray, Digital Downloads, etc. There is nothing to prevent a competiting format from propping up, other than government regulation.
Posted by: Freedom Manitoba | 2009-09-03 7:47:14 AM
"Please note that the government did NOT close the Liberty Dollar!"
The government raided thier office and took everything, and went to where their gold and silver was held and took that as well. Damn thieves.
The Liberty dollar closed down operations July 31st as a result of pending criminal charges http://www.libertydollar.org/ld/pr_nl/07_31_2009.htm
Posted by: Freedom Manitoba | 2009-09-03 7:51:52 AM
What about data collection such as the census and statistics. Would you want somebody other than your government in control?
Posted by: Bob Peloquin | 2009-09-04 2:09:08 AM
"What about data collection such as the census and statistics."
If that is valuable information then there is a market demand for it, a data collection company could handle it, as I pointed out in the case of Neilsen stats.
Posted by: Freedom Manitoba | 2009-09-04 8:44:35 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.