Public goods and services are in the news these days, as President Trump and Elon Musk continue their efforts to dismantle American civil society. The administration’s strangulation of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) shines a light on the connection between public goods and empire. What do public goods have to do with empire? A LOT, it turns out.
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There is a strong economic argument to be made in favor of public investments. The utility public goods offer is almost invariably cheaper than private goods, they often provide employment, and they may well provide benefit for years to come--last I checked, the Brooklyn Bridge was still connecting the outer boroughs to Manhattan. But it is the rights dimension to public goods that I find most compelling. As I indicated in a previous post, what seems to be missing from current political debate is how public goods extend the compass of rights in democratic society. The individual’s right to the public good is what gives it its defining essence, as compared to a private good. It is also likely why the opponents of public goods do in fact oppose them, despite their economic efficiency. Every establishment of a public good is by definition, an extension of rights. If we want to extend, and not limit, the kinds of rights we have, and expand as well the enjoyment of those rights, public goods must be factored.
Recent reports that the incoming Trump administration is considering privatizing the US Postal Service (USPS)--a recurring aim for conservatives, it must be noted--prompts a reflection on what we call "public goods" in America. In my view public goods are essential to our national prosperity, to our quality of living, and to our basic rights, as I shall attempt to explain. Public goods also connect in important ways to the history of US empire. Yet our capacity to think about, consider, even discuss public goods has been severely attenuated in recent decades.
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AuthorI am an editor and historian of US history, diplomacy, and international relations. Archives
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Why empire?This blog presents new scholarship on American empire, places the American experience in a broader and global imperial context, explores imperial habits throughout American society and culture, uncovers the imperial connections between the foreign and the domestic, and develops “empire” as a critical perspective.
At least two features in the American experience are clarified through the lens of American empire: First, we better understand persistent social inequities in a nation professing a fundamental commitment to equality. Second, even a cursory glance at American history makes plain the chronic violence at the center of US foreign policy, which frequently mounts or supports bloody military conflict abroad. Empire helps us recognize how and why the United States seems to be constantly at war--including often with itself--with all the foreign and domestic consequences thereof. |