Comments on: Choice or Power?

By: michael_green

michael_green — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 03:56:45 +0000

Choice is power as long as you are not forced to choose. What I mean by that is that if you don't want to choose a service in the private sector, you are guaranteed something in the public sector, and you can instantaneously move from the private sector to the public sector. Ideally you should have the opportunity to exert democratic influence over the public sector wherever possible.

By: Open Left: Bouncers, Bullies, and Britain. « Tendance Coatesy

Open Left: Bouncers, Bullies, and Britain. « Tendance Coatesy — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 09:43:37 +0000

[...] Open Left witters on about ‘choice in public services’ (here) [...]

By: ratshackman

ratshackman — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 01:36:23 +0000

"Our starting point has to be that we won’t tolerate poor public services, not least because it’s invariably the more disadvantaged who are most poorly served."

I may be misreading this but the fundamental argument about "better public services" is flawed in so much as it is where the Public Services sit in society and the kind of society they sit in which makes them cumbersome, inneffective and (as you rightly say) badly designed for serving those who need them most.

There are MANY services provided by local and central government which the family with an income of above £50,000 (random figure) has no need for or can afford to pay for independenlty.

If, as a policy, it were decided that such a family - while still contributing to such public services - would not be eligible for all of them, the disadvantaged would benefit. Of course, the £50,000 plus family would squeal "I'm paying for something I'm not getting, why should I support the scroungers?"

It is THAT which is wrong in the way we veiwe choice. Choice has to be tempered by a responsibility.

To my way of thinking, the left view of this should be exactly that. You can afford to live yur life and you have a responsibility to help those less fortunate than yourself.

Sorry, that rambles a bit: I'm disabled, live below the poverty line and I pray for soemthing to come of movements like Open Left.

By: AidanWard

AidanWard — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:21:59 +0000

Michael, I agree with this and am working on delivering along these lines. But citizens need to be listened to in their own terms, not educated. The citizen's view of what constitutes crime is usefully different from the police's view, the Home Secretary's view and education's view. We have to stop trying to manage problems by defining them out of existence, it undermines everything we believe in.

By: michael_green

michael_green — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:47:02 +0000

A way to empower citizens to be better co-operators and co-producers (and choosers where necessary) would be to provide accessible comprehensive information and data on public services about each school, hospital, doctor and all related processes. This way citizens can be more informed and thus more effective co-operators and co-producers (and choosers where necessary).

By: michael_green

michael_green — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:25:24 +0000

Secondly, citizens with more power over public services are not necessarily more powerful citizens. Giving citizen's too much control over public services can jeopardize the quality, and make citizens less educated and less healthy and less powerful in the labour market, thus at greater mercy to their employer and the rich.

By: michael_green

michael_green — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:07:41 +0000

The choice is between co-operation and competition in giving users more power over public services.

Co-operation allows users to distribute resources more efficiently and fairer. But Competition has the potential to drive up quality in the long term by sacrificing the needs of the needy in the short term.

There's different types of competition: markets v.s quasi-markets. Quasi market's can exist within universal free of charge public services. Market's cannot exist within universal free of charge public services.

There's also co-production, which happens at the point of delivery, and requires citizens to be educated.

People on the left should never advocate markets. Co-operation and co-production should be the left's priorities as they distribute power most equitably. Quasi market's should only be advocated when co-operation and co-production is impractical and clunky.