Whatever is essential needs to be reliable. Granted, there are several ways to do it, of which state monopoly is only one, and I reckon, often not the best: centrally planned economy works rather poorly, as demonstrated by the Soviet Union.
But you do need to ensure the reliability of your chosen mechanism. You can't just unleash the market on it, and hope for a good result. Unconstrained capitalism doesn't last, as demonstrated by its numerous crises, most notably in 1929.
Most of the time, the government will just heavily manipulate the market into doing what it wants to do. American farms are heavily subsided, for instance. Doesn't work too poorly, and lasts quite long.
Even if you strongly believe in free market and cut-throat competition, you need to ensure the market stays free somehow. You don't want any challenger to actually win.
But you do need to ensure the reliability of your chosen mechanism. You can't just unleash the market on it, and hope for a good result. Unconstrained capitalism doesn't last, as demonstrated by its numerous crises, most notably in 1929.
Most of the time, the government will just heavily manipulate the market into doing what it wants to do. American farms are heavily subsided, for instance. Doesn't work too poorly, and lasts quite long.
Even if you strongly believe in free market and cut-throat competition, you need to ensure the market stays free somehow. You don't want any challenger to actually win.