[net.politics] Streets in Libertarianism

tim@isrnix.UUCP (07/01/83)

In his book, "For a New Liberty", Murray Rothbard suggests that
streets be owned ,built and maintained by those beside those
streets.  For an example of how such a system would actually work
consider this example from India:
    The major developmental work undertaken here is an
    underground drain which has resulted in the paving of
    the main streets with bricks.  The government gave part
    of the money, while the rest was to be a contribution
    from the villagers, who were also in charge of its
    construction through the panchayat.
    "This has been a great gain", they tell me. "previously
    one could not walk in these lanes for the dirt and the
    slush."
       But though most of the drain has been completed,
    500 feet of it has lain unfinished for the last three years.
    The basis of people's contribution had been that each should
    give for the stretch in front of his own house only.
    Where the row of houses ends, responsibility ends-even though
    to reach the paved street one has to walk through stinking
    slush and pools of filth and water.
from "Blossoms in the Dust" by Kusum Nair
So much for the wonders of individualism!
         tim sevener decvax!pur-ee!iuvax!isrnix!tim