Farewell to the Afflicted (re the Civil Registry Strike Fiasco)

     In September 2013 (actually starting on the 28th of August), the registro civil (civil registry) workers in Chile went on strike. As a result, no one could register deaths, births or marriages. No one could get certificates of title transfers for vehicles, or certified criminal records (or lack thereof). No one could get ID cards or passports, meaning that some people had to cancel their foreign travel plans. (On the ninth day of the strike, on a limited basis, the employees did start giving out ID cards and passports to people who are traveling.) In short, these government employees have caused a real mess, and they are being backed by large Chilean labor unions such as the CUT (Central Unitaria de Trabajadores). According to this report, Chileans have lost patience with the striking bureaucrats.
     Bureaucrats never cease to amaze. The Marxist doctrine favoring work stoppages and strikes is supposedly promoted to combat the “exploitation” of workers by greedy capitalists. In popular leftist doctrine, the state is the great redeemer that brings “social justice” and is thus fundamentally different than capitalists or business owners. How is it then that the striking registro civil workers are so confused doctrinally, having embarked upon an indefinite work stoppage and going against their great redeemer (from capitalist greed) and dispenser of social justice? Are they admitting that the state has been exploiting them? It seems to be the case, and as such, it is a curious implicit admission. As a libertarian, I have no problem with saying that the state exploits people, but I must confess that it is an oddity to see the state’s own allies accusing it of exploitation. Might it be time to join forces with these new “libertarians” to help fight for relief from state affliction?

     Let us continue to ponder this conflicted ideology. The Left is hardly a unified force. Yet, meanwhile, all Chile suffers from its contorted state and its own employees. The obvious solution to the current crisis is to fire all the registro civil workers, recruit new people, and pay high (temporary) consulting fees to attract some of the soon-to-be-former workers to train the newcomers.
     However, there is an even better solution. Chile could replace much of the registro civil with an expanded Internet portal. The current website would have to be reprogrammed to remove the recently-installed clave única password system, which requires people to register at a registro civil office prior to accessing Internet services. Until recently, and likely well-planned to coincide with the strike, no special password registration was required. Now, while there is a work stoppage, no one can use the internet without the special password. The paralysis is painful. But this trouble can be quickly fixed.
     The website change can be done with a few developers, greatly expanding the services offered online at present to include title transfers, passports and ID cards. While the registro civil stays on strike, a new, smaller and cheaper bureaucracy could be established that would be responsible for verifying identity, taking ID photographs and signatures and delivering documents. Such a system would be more efficient, less expensive and immune to registro civil strikes, since that bureaucracy would cease to exist, as would the need to have the equivalent of perhaps two-thirds of the presently afflicted and exploited registro civil staff. Those who have little computer knowledge, no internet access or no credit card need not worry. The market will respond automatically to the demand for registro civil services by facilitating internet shops and alternative means of payment, for a small fee, that provides access for everyone. Due to this recommended change, taxpayers, customers and formerly exploited employees (now unemployed and thus not exploited) would be happier. Why shouldn’t we do it then? I suggested to the national and regional media on two occasions in mid September that we do so. Let’s hope they listen to my suggestion and that politicians at least give it some serious thought. Having to live with essential bureaucrats on strike is a pain!
     Will we survive if the afflicted bureaucrats depart? I think so! In fact, the whole fiasco is yet more evidence of the impotence and bankruptcy of leftist ideology. It is paradoxical that civil servants and bureaucrats show dissatisfaction with their employer, the state, for their allegedly lousy wages. If the state operates as an exploiter, similar to “wicked” capitalists, then why should we vote for proactive policies? What is the point of being a leftist if the state is both incompetent to eliminate “abusive” business owners and “correct” market failures, and is also unable to deliver goods in the “public interest”–since the state itself is an exploiter? What we can clearly see is that there is a structural defect in the Civil Registry system that requires its abolition. As I mentioned above, replacing it with a smaller bureaucracy and with most services provided by Internet would surely be the best option.
     Opponents of my remarks published in the Chilean press on the matter (in September 2013) claim that I overlook the injustice that some French subcontractors, used by the Civil Registry to process certain items like ID cards, earn more than Registro Civil employees themselves. An why not ? What reason exists to show that the marginal productivity of a Chilean worker is equal to (or greater than) that of a Frenchman’s? On the contrary, I have every reason to believe that Frenchmen deserve to earn more since they are more productive than Chileans. And, moreover, Frenchmen will hardly be willing to work for less just to satisfy the envy of some Chilean bureaucrats.
     These detractors, furthermore, do not want “simplistic” solutions such as the one I offered but rather more complex ones. But why? To do so makes no sense when there are easier solutions available? Simple policy solutions tend to be the best, just as Occam’s Razor teaches us to favor simple theoretical solutions over complex ones.
     Other detractors object that people without knowledge of the Internet will be impaired and thus excluded from the services of the Registro Civil. However, these people do not understand the power of the market to provide services to untrained customers. In Chile there are already many calling centers which provide Internet service at low cost. Indeed, paying for 15 minutes online in one of these call centers costs less than the bus fare to and from the Civil Registry and the wait would be much less (with so much calling center competition) than required with the long queues in the offices of the afflicted bureaucrats of the Registro Civil. That which is presently missing would automatically supplied by the market under my proposed system. Cheap and convenient solutions for consumers (including the technologically challenged) will appear automatically. Hence, Chileans (or others) need not worry: the market currently has in place a mechanism that can (with slight modification) generate the required services to meet future demand. Aides and experts will appear, along with 20 private Internet service centers that will cost less than a single Civil Registry office. As always, there will be fewer problems with greater reliance on markets and less reliance on the state. Let’s see if Chileans can grasp that lesson now that they see the fiasco caused by state provision of services that can be rather easily be provided by the market.
     Several weeks into the strike, the carabineros (national police) opened an office in downtown Santiago, Valparaíso and Concepción to handle emergency cases where people need passports and ID cards. They still did not register births, deaths, vehicle transfers or get police records. The latter are important for many reasons, not the least of which is getting a job. People had to camp out in the cold of winter to get in the next day, making use of chemical toilets. Then, on September 25th, the Interior Ministry opened a surrogate Registro Civil office in a gymnasium near downtown that offered most of these services. As the images below show, there were hundreds of people waiting in line.

     At least urgent situations got handled, but hardly without hassle. The vast majority of Chileans from all across the political spectrum were unsupportive of the strikers and irritated by their actions. Probably on account of this pressure, the Registro Civil workers went back on the job on September 30, 2013, after having an abridged day back on the 27th. In spite of the present troubles with the Registro Civil, Your place of refuge in Chile is in Freedom Orchard. Be sure to tune in to Dr. Cobin’s radio program: “Red Hot Chile” at noon (ET) on Fridays on the Overseas Radio Network (ORN). You can login at www.overseasradio.com. You can also join the thousands of other people who download the shows each month via the link provided on the ORN website.