Your parent didn't claim government was the most efficient way. Your parent just claimed the public has more control over government, than a company operating as a pseudo-government serving similar functions.
Does government's decisions about roads reflect the desires of the population? I haven't seen any data, so I don't really know, but I would suspect the answer to be mostly no.
> Your parent just claimed the public has more control over government, than a company operating as a pseudo-government serving similar functions.
And I think the claim that public has more control over government needs to be backed up by some sort of data. Of course, you'd need to define the term "pseudo-government" as well.
> Well, if that isn't a convincing argument...
It's not meant to be a convincing argument. That's why I explicitly said that I don't have any data, and that I simply suspect something. Do you have any data? There are plenty of studies on whether the public approves of the general behavior of its government, and at least in the USA the numbers aren't great. My suspicion is that the numbers wouldn't be better when it comes to roads, based on the frequent mismanagement of roads and the number of complaints I here about roads. Again, not data, just suspicion.
> And I think the claim that public has more control over government needs to be backed up by some sort of data. Of course, you'd need to define the term "pseudo-government" as well.
For pseudo-gov read "multinational". As far as data goes, I cant think of a principle more well-evidenced. A single person who is not a consumer of a corporation has no influence whatsoever over the decision making of that corporation.
I can go to my local representative and act in my local community (petition, etc.) in which my local representative has a stake and he can do things for me.
The tremendous amount of public shaming the government goes through (compared to private corps) should be evidence enough that there's a considerable amount of public accountability.
You're still not showing any data, and I would question your conclusions. Just because it seems like you have a say in politics doesn't mean you actually do. If, for example, public policy has no or little positive correlation with public desires, or the public is extremely disappointed with government (both of which are the case in many polls and studies), I would question the presumption that people really have a voice in politics.
Does government's decisions about roads reflect the desires of the population? I haven't seen any data, so I don't really know, but I would suspect the answer to be mostly no.
Well, if that isn't a convincing argument...