Both public and private are means to an end. Privatization is better than nothing.
If what it takes to ensure research and public services continue, is moving them from government to states and corporations, so be it. In fact, that may be the way out of our horrible partisan divide. The right gets what they want, a shrunken government and ability to enforce their ideology in red states, except they can't control what happens in blue states. The left gets to no longer feel threatened and enforce their ideology in blue states, except they can't control what happens in in red states. What's left of the government resolves interstate disputes and maintains interstate services, though many formerly-interstate services become intrastate (e.g. USPS). The military protects everyone from foreign adversaries. The US doesn't devolve into anarchy.
I suspect that's not what either side wants, but honestly, what's the alternative? Domination, where a large section the population is miserable and angry? Anarchy, where everyone (who can't leave the US at least) suffers? AI superintelligence (I'm skeptical)? Or perhaps the majority left's and majority right's beliefs aren't fundamentally incompatible, and everything seems polarized now, but after some things start breaking and others not breaking, time passes, some people feel betrayed or upset, but the government doesn't collapse, the "average left" and "average right" will be able to respectfully debate each other again. That's what I hope, but I suspect it ends as described above (maybe once people start living in their own ideological areas, the debates are so respectful they wonder why they can't compromise and merge, but when merged they're too emotional to debate or compromise).
If what it takes to ensure research and public services continue, is moving them from government to states and corporations, so be it. In fact, that may be the way out of our horrible partisan divide. The right gets what they want, a shrunken government and ability to enforce their ideology in red states, except they can't control what happens in blue states. The left gets to no longer feel threatened and enforce their ideology in blue states, except they can't control what happens in in red states. What's left of the government resolves interstate disputes and maintains interstate services, though many formerly-interstate services become intrastate (e.g. USPS). The military protects everyone from foreign adversaries. The US doesn't devolve into anarchy.
I suspect that's not what either side wants, but honestly, what's the alternative? Domination, where a large section the population is miserable and angry? Anarchy, where everyone (who can't leave the US at least) suffers? AI superintelligence (I'm skeptical)? Or perhaps the majority left's and majority right's beliefs aren't fundamentally incompatible, and everything seems polarized now, but after some things start breaking and others not breaking, time passes, some people feel betrayed or upset, but the government doesn't collapse, the "average left" and "average right" will be able to respectfully debate each other again. That's what I hope, but I suspect it ends as described above (maybe once people start living in their own ideological areas, the debates are so respectful they wonder why they can't compromise and merge, but when merged they're too emotional to debate or compromise).