RE: Networked-States: The Transition Away From The Nation-State
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A nation-state won this battle:
lol
So, I'm genuinely wondering something here...
How many people commenting have their own fully private drinking water supply?
And how many here rely on a government entity to supply their drinking water? (Municipal, State, National?) And pay a water bill to cover the cost of resources to do so?
Governments can be utterly shit, but they also have more aspects to them than some realise. A portion of those aspects in many places are critical and are positive for the great majority of us
In my nation, water is mostly treated and supplied by local and state government entities
In places where the operation of the water supply has actually been sold off and privatised, like in my home state, the quality of the service has reduced dramatically, while the overall costs have increased
I know this because I've seen it happen first-hand, working in the field
It's conceivable that a networked-state could supply it's constituents water, but who among us is going to build that system and maintain it over time?
Perhaps I sound sceptical, but I'm actually just really curious
dont know about water systems
But would you say that food production and distribution would work better if controlled by the state?
Hmm... that's a tough one. There's so much nuance that can't be covered in a few comments. It really depends on how the system is designed. It could potentially be more efficient with less waste but at the cost of less variety overall
And it would require people with integrity to run it, and complete transparency. Not an easy thing to systematise
I'm talking things I know very little about now, but this would amount to a centrally planned economy and could be abused to oppress people
"Communist" nations past and present often have food shortages and people starve, as far as I know (never lived in one myself, though, so this is just from what I've read)
A government monopoly on food production and distribution...
Hmmm...
Looking at my country, it's a commonwealth nation with a federal system of government. The water supply throughout the country is run by state and local governments, depending on the location. The word 'state' in the previous sentence is used in the sense of a province or territorial division within the federation
So, there's many government water monopolies, some of them hundreds of years old. In all that time, none of them have abused their power to harm the citizens they supply water to. No one has gone without water, that I know of. There are locations in my state not connected to the water network, but landowners in these places are not billed by the water authority. People living in these places generally do have their own private water supplies, sourced from groundwater or rainwater
Maybe this is the key: having smaller government entities existing within, but separate to, the larger federal government superstructure
As far as I know, there's never been one singular federal monopoly on water in this nation
I want to say as well, the statewide water supply where I live was built by a government starting 170 years ago, and in the last 20 years, parts of it have been privatised, to its overall detriment. This is contrary to the neo-liberal line that privatisation automatically makes things better or more efficient. If it was originally built by private-sector economic actors, this decrease in quality may not have occurred. However, I seriously doubt it would've even been built at all if it was 'left up to the free market,' as there would be no surplus value for a private entity to capture as profit in the process
So many factors. So much nuance...
Far too easy to oversimplify
It's interesting to think and write about. I've been enjoying the process of reconciling my experience with what I've read on economics to form my reply
Thank you for your comment!
Please, share your thoughts as well. I'm eager to see your perspective
What's the situation where you live?
Wow , Thanks for your extensive answer
I live in south Spain , water in an issue here , the distribution network was started 1000 years ago by Arabs , of course have changed a lot in the last 100 years
Water system is mainly public .Water for house consumption is ok , works well and not too expensive
A different issue is water for the olive and almond fields , that is organized by small public area organizations
I came to live my town a couple of years ago , the first day went to work on the olive trees the owner of the field next to mine came to ask me if I wanted to buy his olive trees which are watered , pointing out that was the only way I could get water for my trees , since no new water point access are given since decades ago
Next to my olive trees there are other fields with water access but which are abandoned for years and nobody works on them
Next day I went to the water company to check if that was true , they used mainly mechanical typewriters (2 years ago! ,we have 500 MB fiber in most houses! ) , toke 1 hour to check field maps looking into hundred papers, they confirmed what my neighbor said ,no new water access are possible even if half of the watered fields are abandoned and havent worked on it for decades
Said this , I understand a 100% private system could be potencially dangerous but I guess some kind of miked system could work better
Related to food ,I think that any cuban or venezolan can tell u if they like a 100% public controlled system
Anyway I agree with you that is a complex issue
Wow, a real painful and frustrating experience you've had there...
If I was in your shoes, first thing I'd do now is track down the relevant legislation and see what that actually says
You should be able to talk to the same people in the water office and ask them to provide the name of the specific act or law from which they derive their authority on the matter
At best, you might find a way forward
At worst, you'll find out that the people in the water office have actually done their job right; that is according to the law...
In which case, next step would be to change the law
No small feat, but it is possible
Out of curiosity, this water point access you're after, would it be permission to use groundwater (by digging a well or drilling a bore) or would it be permission to pump from a river or other above ground water source?