Public vs Private

A Libertarian Free Market Fundamentalist was arguing with me the other day.
I took exception to the statement that “the American Left is fighting for less Freedom...” or something to that effect.
Oh, those Leftsts...marching in lockstep.

He indicated that More Government always equals Less Freedom.
I rebutted with a question:” Why did Teddy Roosevelt and FDR expand the powers of the Fedgov the way they did?”
The answer of course, is to curtail the abuses of Giant Piles of Money.
Robber Barons, Trusts, Carnegie and Standard Oil.
These entities and personages were deleterious to Liberty...so the Fedgov took them on...on OUR Behalf!...in order to put them within a fence, so that they could be controlled, and restrained where necessary.
I asked:” What other mechanism is there for such a Task?”
….and got silence.

Libertarians have learned the Gish Gallop.
He moved on to another few topics, tangentially related to the topic at hand...and then:” There have been Private Fire Departments” ….and:”Volunteer Fire Departments are not Government”.
As is the primary feature of the Gish Gallop, I was compelled to quickly locate links, or give a five paragraph rebuttal to this...citing evidence.
While I am doing this, they move on to the next weasel worded “point” or outright strawman, which also requires a five paragraph response.

Here are the appropriate responses to those two specious “points”:
“There have been Private Fire Departments.”
Indeed, there have!
...and they were a Failure for two entangled reasons...(1)if your neighbor doesn't pay his Fire Protection Subscription, his house burns down...and then (2)your house burns down, because there are no building codes(lol) and it matters not that you have paid your extortion money to the Fire Brigade.
This has actually happened...quite recently...and it was the main reason that Benjamin Franklin pushed for Public Fire Departments that would protect Everyone...by protecting Everyone.
It's not hard to understand.

”Volunteer Fire Departments are not Government”

Maybe not technically...but they receive considerable Tax Payer Money...and could not function without it.
Fire Trucks are expensive, as are Jaws of Life, and other sundry and interrelated equipment.
Bake Sales and Bar-B-Ques aren't going to cut it.
If an activity relies fundamentally on Public Money, it is essentially a Public Enterprise.
(it can also be called “socialism”, but that may be too much for my Libertarian friends)
If it's Public, that means Government.
In this country, Government is supposed to be Us...We the People.
To the extent that that is not the case, we have no one to blame but Ourselves, for abdicating our virtual throne as the seats of sovereignty.
In our form of Government, we get what We work for.

Of course, they will never read this...and if they do, they will likely ignore it.
I see this often.
They have no answers that don't rely on platitudes backed by air, and condemnation backed only by Unreason.
Hence, Gish Galloping.