With the publicity around the new Ken Burns documentary, America's Best Idea, Time magazine has an interesting article on the National Parks and tries to use the Parks as a model of the positive power of Big Government:

With America frothing over the role of government — should it save banks? should it expand health coverage? — The National Parks makes a simple case for an idea that is wildly controversial in the year of the tea party: That we need government to do things the private sector can't or won't.

The statement and the article conveniently overlook the fact that the National Parks and health care coverage have virtually nothing in common. First, and most obvious, is that the private sector can, will and does effectively deliver health care. It's not a perfect system. Opponents of a public option aren't saying the current system is perfect though, they're saying that they don't believe the government can deliver a better option. Lord knows that the government has engaged in foolish, costly and inefficient policies when it comes to the National Parks. Does anyone really think Big Government will turn into a tremendous machine when it comes to health care?

Second, opponents of Big Government aren't opposed to government. We're not frickin' anarchists. The preamble to the Constitution says:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

I think it's easy to place the establishment of National Parks under either "general Welfare" or the "Blessings of Liberty".

In any case, the argument over health care isn't about whether "we need government to do things the private sector can't or won't." The argument is whether government can do a better job than the private sector. In the case of the National Parks, the government certainly did a better job than the market in establishing the Parks and preserving them for the people. However, their management of the Parks is certainly questionable at best - and not something that inspires me to want to give even more over to Big Government.