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"[There are] ways to trim a bloated, deficit-ridden state government budget. One would be to make many agencies and commissions self-supporting through user fees; another would be to eliminate useless agencies and commissions altogether", or so says the Libertarian Party of California in a recent article condensed below.
In 1981, the Libertarian James P. Beckwith Jr., writing for the Cato Institute, laid out a series of privatization protocols in a publication titled "Parks, Property Rights, and the Possibilities of the Private Law." He suggested that outright sale of parks was too radical a concept for the short term. He proposed instead an orderly progression that would eventually (in perhaps two or three decades) get to the desired endpoint. Here's a passage from his introduction to that seminal paper:
The organizing principle of this paper is one of ascending radicalism: from reform through volunteerism and privatization of services to the outright abolition of public ownership and the transfer of the parks to private parties.
Today we find that the ground work has been done. The privatization tools and techniques laid out by Beckwith are commonplace and widely accepted. Today the second in command of the Department of Interior is a Libertarian with the stature of Beckwith himself.
Articles such as the one which follows, appear in publications each week. I've condensed this one to narrow the focus specifically to the privatization of parks. Appreciate, however, that what is at stake is the privatization of everything and understand that what was, during the Reagan Era, looked upon as being too radical to be considered, is being considered (and acted upon) daily. Most of all, understand that user-fees are a step (a crucial step) on the path leading to sale/disposal.
Scott
Learn more:
http://www.wildwilderness.org/content/view/378/64/
http://www.wildwilderness.org/content/view/368/64/
--- ((CONDENSED VERSION FOLLOWS))) ---
SOURCE: The Libertarian Party of California
June 21, 2008
California Smackdown 2008-09
By Ron Getty
There are other ways to trim a bloated, deficit-ridden state government budget.
One would be to make many agencies and commissions self-supporting
through user fees; another would be to eliminate useless agencies and
commissions altogether. Still another approach is to compare the
services an agency or commission provides and determine whether the
same service is being offered by a private company. The agency or
commission would then be required to make a competitive bid for the
service against a free-market, privately-owned business. To be
competitive, the playing field would need to be leveled by repealing
all prevailing wage legislation, as well as public servant union pay
scales. If the private free market company offers a better competitive
deal, the service gets outsourced.
The Department of Parks and Recreation oversees 85 state parks and 200
campsites, beaches and hiking trails. The 2008-09 budget was going to
close 48 state parks closed. These closures have been forestalled in
the governor's newly proposed $569 million parks budget.
It's time to take some radical measures. California should get out of
the parks business. It should sell the state parks, campsites, hiking
trails and beaches to private businesses or individuals to hold them in
trust for the benefit of the public. This way, businesses and
individuals could jump on the "Green Wagon" and save California parks.
Each business that adopts a state park would receive tax deductions
equal to the cost of maintenance, upkeep, repair and park staffing.
Businesses could join together to adopt parks, hiking trails,
campsites, or state beaches and split the tax-deductible costs.
Individuals could adopt state park areas though a nonprofit
tax-deductible contribution corporation. In this way, the Parks and
Recreation budget could be cut and still allow Californians to have
outdoor recreation. Otherwise, we should do the politically incorrect
thing and charge an entrance fee of $7 each to the estimated 80 million
yearly parks visitors.
The examples I've cited to cut the budget deficit would save $18
billion. If the budgets of each agency, commission, council or
department were to be looked at in terms of user fees, outsourcing, or
outright elimination, the savings could easily total another $18
billion.
The $20 billion budget deficit doesn't require increasing taxes or
finding new sources of revenue. It's a signal that it's time to smack
down government spending.
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- Privatization 
