Seven years ago, the San Francisco Mime Troupe, known for its biting political satire, put on a play in which two government employees, a NASA scientist and a geologist working for the U. S. Geological Survey, confronted the Soulsnatcher from Outer Space that was turning people into zombies by feeding them poisoned hamburgers. The mayor, having partaken, was about to sell the town. But the two heroes, with the help of lots of other people, saved both the town and the country.

The message, as usual, was that We the People are the government, and the power to build a just and joyous society is in our hands. Still, the fact that civil servants had been cast as the heroes made me wonder: Was the Mime Troupe defending government because our government was in peril?

Well, by now the answer is in. Government at all levels is showing signs of severe damage resulting from years of persistent assault and ever more severe fiscal malnutrition. And just as a plant that has gone too long without water weakens and can no longer fight off pests, the body politic has become easy prey to corporate interests that see opportunities to profit from its chronic and worsening disabilities.
A family that can no longer pay the rent and feed the kids begins to sell and pawn its assets. Governments—local, state, and federal—are handing over to private for-profit corporations many services they have traditionally provided. The justification may be financial necessity or cost efficiency, but what “efficiency” means in this context—who benefits and who pays the costs—is not self-evident. The interests of public agencies and private firms are not the same. Corporations are created to bring profits to their investors. That is their primary responsibility. Public institutions are created to serve the public, and are directly responsible to the citizens. How privatization of public resources and services fits with our democratic values, local citizens’ power to shape their communities, and the need for natural resource conservation remains to be seen.

A major reason the civil service was established was the perceived need to shield public agencies from the hazard of corruption. While a corporate employee’s job may depend on successfully closing a particular deal, a civil servant’s job does not. The public employee is therefore free to focus on assigned public duties.

So far, a consensus seems to exist that certain essential services, such as police and fire protection and highway construction, are too important to be carried out by any other entity but government. Throughout the country, however, public schools—essential to the education of a citizenry capable of supporting a highly diverse democratic society—prisons, sewage treatment systems, and other public works constructed with taxpayer money are being turned over to private management. A few huge corporations almost completely dominate the airwaves, which are owned by the public.

As the underfunded National Park Service struggles with a growing maintenance backlog, it has been suggested that the solution might be to replace rangers and other professional park staff with private contractors. Meanwhile, in the military, private contractors have been given substantial roles, performing duties formerly carried out by military personnel. Their interests and obligations may differ. In letters published in Stars and Stripes, servicemen in Iraq complain bitterly about shortages of bottled water, hot food, and—most bitterly—about the poor mail service provided by Halliburton.

In this issue Shirley Skeel reports on the rapid privatization of water services. The water flowing from the taps in many coastal California homes is now managed by multinational corporations or their subsidiaries. Some implications of this shift are discussed here. We also offer John Woodbury’s report on a bold conservation goal for the San Francisco Bay Area, which is being pursued through partnerships among government agencies, nonprofit land trusts, and private landowners. Both articles signal new directions in coastal resource management at this time of shrinking government.

—Rasa Gustaitis