The foregoing answer is excellent from a practical point-of view-" The Park
Service archaeologists need to be government employees for the simple reason
that the archaeological resources they are protecting are on government
property."
There are, however, also reasons of principle, which simply stated recognize
the fact that some things are best done by governments. Things such as
administration of justice, policing, and many other public services are
normally best performed by governments and government employees. Anything
that requires a conservative approach and can benefit from
multi-generational continuity, and which benefits the whole society is often
best done by governments even in terms of cost (the normal criticism of
governmental employees). The US Customs Service, for example, has a few
hundred years of experience in preventing smuggling. It does a pretty good
job in that regard with very constrained resources. The long-term experience
of the employees and the institutional memory of the service help it to
handle a large mass of imports in an effective manner.
The lovers of privatizing governmental services need to heed the experience
of the Dutch West India Company. This commercial enterprise was founded in
1621 for the expressed purpose of conducting war on the Portuguese in
Brazil. The founding of the New Netherland (New York) colony and the
granting of monopolistic status to the West India Co. in trade with this
colony was to help pay for the Brazil adventure. Initial success by admiral
DeReuyter in capturing the Spanish silver fleet led to great expectations of
success. By 1664, however, New Amsterdam became a British possession and was
traded for right to conduct the slave trade in Surinam. The Portuguese
retained their hold on Brazil and the Dutch West India Company underwent
reorganization (bankruptcy) in 1674. The moral of the story is, that some
things like foreign policy are also best left to governments.
nburlakoff
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf
Of John Peterson
Sent: Friday, August 01, 2003 9:34 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Update on National Park Service Archaeology
>>> [log in to unmask] wrote:
Interesting question though - why do the archaeologists need to be
Government Employees (bureaucrats)? It would seem to make much more
sense for these services to be privatized, because on the whole, the
work isn't really "governmental".
----------
Also, federal archaeologists are very dedicated
to protecting these cultural resources, not searching for profits that
many (not all) for-profit consulting (privatized) environmental firms
would do.
John Peterson
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