Axver ([info]axver) wrote,
@ 2005-12-23 21:56:00
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Current mood: curious
Current music:'Notes From Africa' by The Devin Townsend Band
Entry tags:government, government ownership, nationalisation, politics, poll, private ownership

A government ownership poll.
Random political poll! Just because I feel like it.

Although I've held off on continuing my political series, I've still been thinking about my political stance, specifically where I stand on governmental ownership of national services such as the railways and telecommunications. So I thought I'd make a poll to see just how (un)common my viewpoint is amongst those who read my journal.

Please note: selecting 'yes' does not necessarily mean you oppose private ownership. For example, you could believe as I do and select 'yes, not-for-profit to benefit the population' and think that private companies should be allowed to be established and operate alongside and compete with the government (i.e. someone believes they can create a telecommunications company that can provide a better service than what the government offers at a lower cost to the consumer while still making a profit for themselves).

Poll #639097
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Do you believe that the government should own and operate important national services?

View Answers

Yes, not-for-profit to benefit the population.
10 (66.7%)

Yes, to achieve a profit.
1 (6.7%)

No, services should be supplied by private enterprise.
2 (13.3%)

Unsure/Don't know.
1 (6.7%)

My view isn't on this poll so I'll explain it in a comment.
1 (6.7%)



I will likely elaborate more on my viewpoint at a later date.

(Post a new comment)


[info]khanada
2005-12-23 11:58 am UTC (link)
i'm going to say no because...i say so?

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[info]axver
2005-12-23 12:00 pm UTC (link)
That's the best justification for any viewpoint that I have ever seen!

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[info]khanada
2005-12-23 12:02 pm UTC (link)
bonus points for me possibly changing my mind so i can say "i'm going to say yes because...i say so?"

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[info]axver
2005-12-23 12:04 pm UTC (link)
Oh, I love how firm you are in your viewpoint!

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[info]khanada
2005-12-23 12:07 pm UTC (link)
oh, you know me!

i really don't have an opinion on this, i bet if you told me enough about it in a biased manner, i'd go one way or the other.

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[info]axver
2005-12-23 12:09 pm UTC (link)
In which case, I better make a post persuasively arguing my case before a private ownership fanatic gets to you. ;)

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[info]khanada
2005-12-23 12:11 pm UTC (link)
haha, okay

i'm tentatively changing my vote because in my half-asleep mind, it's starting to make some sense now...we'll see what i think when i've read this after having a good night's sleep.

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[info]axver
2005-12-24 11:29 am UTC (link)
Haha, alright. I'll probably write my case sometime in the next week or two.

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[info]khanada
2005-12-24 11:33 am UTC (link)
all right. and i'll write my opinion about a week after that. ;)

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mezziekins
2005-12-23 12:05 pm UTC (link)
That poll was phrased in such a subtly biased way. You ought to be proud. But yes, I do agree with you; public services oughtn't be privately owned.

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[info]axver
2005-12-23 12:08 pm UTC (link)
Ha, is it? I guess my views seeped through a bit, though I wasn't consciously trying to make it favour my opinion. I was initially not going to even state my vote, but then I decided the 'yes' option needed clarification and provided my own viewpoint as an example.

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[info]purplicious
2005-12-24 03:32 am UTC (link)
Heee, yes, I saw the subtle bias too:)

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[info]axver
2005-12-24 11:29 am UTC (link)
Want to point it out to me?

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[info]purplicious
2005-12-25 03:45 am UTC (link)
Just the way you only explained and went into detail on the choice you agreed with.

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[info]deadlydenial
2005-12-23 12:55 pm UTC (link)
Which services do you mean? Please clarify...

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[info]axver
2005-12-24 11:31 am UTC (link)
I'm thinking along the lines of transport (i.e. government owned railway network, national airline, etc.), banking, telecommunications, that sort of stuff.

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[info]screendoor3
2005-12-24 07:43 am UTC (link)
I said yes, but I believe private companies should be able to compete as well.

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[info]axver
2005-12-24 11:32 am UTC (link)
Yeah, I think it's essential to have the freedom for private companies to compete, especially if the government is failing to supply the service they should; I also think it's important that the people ultimately responsible for the services are people like the Minister for Railways and they can be voted out by the people if they're doing a bad job.

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[info]fbiagentwannabe
2005-12-26 12:38 pm UTC (link)
Mm... well it depends on which services... and a lot on the place/location.

For instance, I think public transportation should be city operated. Otherwise, if there are two or three companies with city buses... there are going to be way too many buses, it'll confuse the whole system, and none of the complanies would be very good.

But something like phone service... it should be private companies offering the service, but I think the government should own the actual phone lines. For instance, here in Slovakia the first company put up all of their phone lines... and now if another company wants to come in, then they have to put up all of their own lines. But there needs to be another telephone company--Slovak Telecom needs a competitor so they force their employees to work.

There's no problem with the government supplying certain services... though I definitely think there should be room for competing businesses.


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