Whole lotta bad ideas

The Feb. 7 Voices page was loaded with bad ideas, such as a Convention of States to propose constitutional amendments. That’s just what we don’t need in our politically divided country: a rewriting of founding documents by delegates chosen by Republican-dominated legislatures at the height of gerrymandered power.

Oddly, defenders of state’s rights such as state Sen. Gary Stubblefield keep passing bills like this that originate from out-of-state groups like ALEC. Wouldn’t you expect more focus on bills written by Arkansas lawmakers to solve Arkansas problems?

Another bad idea is privatizing: turning government over to for-profit businesses. We see the feds have about 2.5 million civilian workers, one-fifth of them in the Postal Service, one-third working for the Department of Defense, one-fifth for either the VA or Homeland Security. Median salary is $77,000.

State and local governments employ something like 16 million people, with roughly half working in education and a million in police departments. These public workers tend to be paid less than private sector-employees, although often they’re required to have a college degree; better benefits don’t eliminate the pay gap.

Private business must turn a profit: cut labor costs or cut services. G. Russell Holt suggests a privatized zoo. Instead of taxpayer funding, the zoo could charge schoolchildren a hefty fee. Many zoos have breeding programs to save animals that are going extinct in the wild, but this wouldn’t fit the bottom line for the privatized zoo.

Privatized prisons get a stipend from the government for each prisoner. They can cut costs by hiring fewer guards or paying them less, providing minimal medical services, or ending vocational and educational programs that prepare prisoners to make it on the outside. But for a business, recidivism makes sense. The more prisoners, the more profit.

Government and business have different purposes.

CORALIE KOONCE

Fayetteville