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A vast majority of the US population would think that privatizing interstate highways is a loony idea not even to be taken seriously. Yet I'm going to go ahead and support it wholeheartedly. I've got three basic reasons: The fact that government never does anything efficiently, the negative impact of the freeways on our society that has gone overlooked, and the general ethical problem of forcing people to pay for something that they may not want or use.

Government will never provide any service as efficiently as the private sector could. When the state provides a service, a monopoly is created in that respective market. There is no incentive to give the best price, the best product or the best quality. The lack of competition kills any need for consideration in the consumer, which is the taxpayer. The government gets paid no matter what crap they put out there. (Admit it, it's crap.)

Now right now you're probably thinking to yourself in a snotty voice, "Give me a break! Nobody is stopping private companies from competing."

Imagine if you had a business that sold a product. Your "competition" is a company for which everybody in the country has to be a customer, and on top of that they dictate the product that you are allowed to put out. Would you last long, even if you managed to put out superior quality? This is how the government gets away with roads that barely make the cut: It doesn't have to do any better!

Another thing that nobody ever looks at is the dubious effect the interstates have had on the nation thus far.

Have you ever thought of life without an automobile? Before the 1950s, it would have been pretty easy to picture it. People lived in centralized areas and mass transportation thrived within those places. Cities were planned with pedestrian traffic in mind. Nobody had heard of suburbs, much less suburban sprawl. The average consumer didn't have reason to care about the price of gasoline, and nobody dreamed that auto emissions would be threatening the global climate.

Now behold the wonders around you! Many Americans would not be able to shop, attend school or church, make the transit to work even find any source of entertainment without their car. Our nation is joined at the hip with Middle Eastern countries, whose people hate us, because we need the oil. Wild, natural countryside is a thing of the past, replaced by our lovely subdivisions with stately lawns and cookie-cutter houses. Don't forget the amazing physical condition that riding in a car keeps our bodies in (obesity in America has increased by 200% since 1950, surely that's a coincidence). The large chunk of your paycheck devoted to your car (as well as the amount you are taxed to pay for infrastructure) sure is well spent!

All joking aside, here is my main reason I support privatization: The ethical problem in forcing citizens to pay for the interstates. My understanding in regards to peaceful human interaction is that reason is always preferable to force. So why is it acceptable to make somebody pay for a product or service under threat of fines or imprisonment?

If Al Bundy would have forced women to buy his shoes, he would have been fired and probably ended up in jail. A robber who gives something in return for your money has still robbed you. Why is it different when the government does it?

If somebody could convince me that those arguments don't hold water, I would change my mind. But I'm pretty sure that when I wake up tomorrow the roads will still be full of potholes, my job will be 20 miles out of the city because that's where the freeway goes, and a chunk of my paycheck will be missing without my consent. Thanks, Uncle Sam!

Learn more about this author, Dan Keizer.
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