Any time you hear the word "privatization", you should be scared

[SharonAnn]

63. Privatization - or how my sister became a Democrat.

Privatization creates patronage, which is unaccountable to the customer/client.

A turning point for my sister, a former Republican (like me) was when she moved to North Carolina in 2007. I went with her to get her car title changed and to get a new Driver's License.

Because of the Patriot Act changes, one had to provide more information than in previous years.

Those two offices showed the incredible differences between privatized services and public services.

1. In one office, by phone call and then actual visit you couldn't find out all of what you needed to complete the paperwork. They keep telling you you need one more thing. You go home, get it and come back. On the third trip you got your document. During these experiences the people at the counter were overwhelmed with the long lines, equipment that didn't work, and the facility was a disaster (tiles missing from the floor, leaks from the ceiling with buckets under them, etc.). Naturally, the employees weren't very friendly our courteous.

2. In the other office, the facilities were spartan but clean and well maintained. The line managing process was orderly and the lines moved quickly. You could call ahead of time, find out exactly what you needed, and set an appointment to get through the process. The process worked smoothly and all the staff were friendly and very professional.

My sister didn't understand why the two offices were so very different in the same state. I explained to her that Office 1, the car title office, was privatized. The contract had been awarded to someone (probably a political crony) for a defined amount and that person/company was going to wring every $ out of it, for their own profit, that they could. Complaints were irrelevant because the owner had the contract and political connection so nothing would be done.

In Office 2, it was the state DMV, a state run agency which issued Driver's Licenses. They were committed to providing the best service they could within a limited budget. They knew that their performance in providing services to the public determined whether or not the kept their job and whether or not it maintained a state agency. Frankly, the entire experience there was so positive that we left smiling.

Once she understood that private companies providing public services meant that theyw ere unaccountable to the public, and only accountable to their patrons, she realized that this was a bad deal for the public. Their money is being taken through taxes, the services are not provided well, and there's little the public can do about it.

It really helped that the government run DMV was an ideal example of what the benefit is of providing public services through government agencies.