Privatization’s Dark Antonym

In 1976, on a bathroom wall at the Washington, DC Trailways bus station, I read the following joke:

If pro is the opposite of con, what's the opposite of progress.

It was good for a chuckle at a dark time in my life, and I've always kept my eye out for funny antonyms since then. An antonym, for those not familiar with the word, is a word having a meaning opposite to that of another word. Think wet versus dry.

So what's the antonym of privatize?

I hear that word all over the place. We debate privatizing Social Security, the National Parks, the U.S. Postal Service, NASA, the schools, the roads, the military, and even the Amazon rainforest.

To hear the politicians talk, everything is better if you privatize it!

So the antonym of a word so bandied about our public discourse is equally well known, right? It's not a secret word, but the fact that it is the opposite of privatize isn't exactly talked up. I had to think about it for a few minutes before I made the connection.

Now the better educated of you reading this are laughing at me, so for the sake of discussion I will spill the beans.

The antonym of privatize is nationalize.

Now, there's a word that is simply un-American. We don't do that! South American radicals nationalize. Middle Eastern nutjobs nationalize. People who nationalize come to bad ends!

And Americans don't talk about it. It's not an option - a total non-starter!

Why is that?