In the past quarter century, business models have been slowly replacing human service bureaucracies in such areas as health care and education. The argument, for many, is that free market forces and competition inevitably results in higher quality services and more efficient operations. However, others will argue that business models create more problems than solutions, and if left to spin out of control, these models result in two-tiered system that can leave those less fortunate without services.
It is indeed hard for many Americans to even formulate ideas outside the free market box, so embedded are our concepts of competition, freedom, winning-at-all-costs, and fear of vulnerability and failure. We talk of church-goers, library patrons and elementary school parents as “consumers”, we design power-point presentations with ample data to illustrate how we are failing to deliver quality product and we use fear as a tool to ensure efficiency and compliance to orders.
But, on the other hand, there is much to be learned from good business management. Innovative ideas, for example, often are born out of the drive for profit and measured success. Wasteful spending, time mismanagement, entrenched bureaucracy and patronage systems are consistently challenged by business practices which privilege the bottom line over everything else.
In the end, it seems that many mistakes, especially those mistakes that result in tragedy, could be avoided if only we could achieve some kind of middle-ground. Just as we shouldn’t let market forces alone determine what is best for a patient or a student or, for that matter, the environment, we should also not allow health care, education or the EPA to sink into large, unaccountable, bureaucratic messes.
It just so happens, however, that our nation is currently experiencing a large-scale “corporate” overhaul in many areas (not just education and health care, but also the media, for example). And this overhaul is resulting in some very unfortunate consequences that could be avoided if there were some checks and balances.
It seems to me only realistic to allow that there may be multiple solutions for any one problem. To believe that the free market alone can solve social problems is like believing that a hug will solve them. It will take hugs and common sense together, and the willingness of people from different points of views, to draft a plan together to create workable solutions for our country.
