A cliché response to calls for a fully free society: But who will build the roads?!? Road networks seem an obvious case where only governments can (a) envision an infrastructure project of national scope, (b) tax millions of people to get the capital needed, and (c) compel or confiscate land from recalcitrant owners to put together the needed continuous parcels of land. By contrast, the feeling is that private enterprises are too small in vision and funding and less muscled.
So here is a refreshing excerpt from Karl Marx’s comrade Friedrich Engels. In his 1845 “Condition of the Working Class in England,” Engels notes the revolutionary transformation of Britain’s transportation network:
“The whole British Empire, and especially England, which, sixty years ago, had as bad roads as Germany or France then had, is now covered by a network of the finest roadways; and these, too, like almost everything else in England, are the work of private enterprise, the State having done very little in this direction.
“Before 1755 England possessed almost no canals. … [But now in 1845:] In England alone, there are 2,200 miles of canals and 1,800 miles of navigable river. In Scotland, the Caledonian Canal was cut directly across the country, and in Ireland several canals were built. These improvements, too, like the railroads and roadways, are nearly all the work of private individuals and companies.”
Notice the “like almost everything else in England.” The same is true of private schooling in England, private currencies, and pretty much anything. With freedom, creative and entrepreneurial people find a way to get stuff done.