Atrios, Emptywheel, and plenty of others in the comments disagree with my post on choice. And many points being made are quite good: it is inefficient to have multiple trash collectors blocking up traffic, causing road damage, polluting the air, etc. That’s why the Fountain Hills council decided to grant the monopoly in the first place. There’s nothing pernicious in this decision. It’s a financially sensible decision.
But this is government we’re talking about, and government can’t always be efficient because we don’t live in a totalitarian state where everything is done by technocratic acolytes of the gods of efficiency. We live in a democracy, and in a democracy people have the right to make stupid choices. If the people of Fountain Hills don’t want a monopoly trash collection service even if it will save them money and cut down on pollution, then they have every right to be pissed off about this decision. It’s not your town, it’s their town, their street, their choice even if you think it’s a stupid one. You can make choices about your own street and they can make choices about theirs.
Democracy is also good (but not efficient)Post + Comments (146)