Fire!

While a lot of the national focus has turned to the health care squabble, a minor distraction to these eyes, the ongoing scandal of government-sponsored interference with free market enterprise continues to disturb. We speak of course of municipal fire departments and a pernicious reliance on government bureaucrats to shoulder responsibilities that could readily be privatized which they engender.

Why do we allow the civil service to pick and choose which fires to put out? Do Americans really want some nameless government bureaucrat to handle this important responsibility?

In a previous time, rational consumers had their choice of arriving fire brigades when their homes or businesses enjoyed a demand spike in, well, fire. Competition was so fierce many brigades even turned to fisticuffs to select a winning bid, often finishing their negotiations before the home was a smoldering ruin. Returning public-optioned fire departments to private industry would generate job growth, reinvigorate this moribund industry, and, because of competition, lead to technological enhancement and improved worker productivity.

It’s hard to imagine private industry tolerating the current state of affairs. Since the government takeover fires appear willy-nilly, a haphazardness no corporate manager would tolerate but which these government employees seem to accept readily. As it stands now, no one knows when a fire will consume their homes, dislodge their lives, perhaps even lead to financial ruin.

Allowing fire brigades to compete will restore order to the U.S. fire industry. Consumers could have the freedom to make personally responsible decisions about which fire brigade’s plan served them best. Should they seek catastrophic fire coverage or just enough to pay for an out-of-control backyard barbeque? It’s their fire and their choice!

It’s deplorable that this state of affairs continues. Here’s hoping the fire department debate heats up soon or else another generation of Americans will be forced to endure complete and unquestioned single-payer fire security each night they put head to pillow.

Kevin Clarke