Tenure

What justification does tenure have? The biggest reason is alleged to be the facilitation of academic freedom, the theory being that professors will not fear getting sacked for their teachings or opinions. Another reason given is continuity for grad students, for they would supposedly be unable to finish dissertations and other projects if their professors were not guaranteed to be there year after year. But look where that has got us: a professoriate that is virtually uniformly leftist, university "graduates" who confuse Hannibal with Hannibal Lecter, and ever upwards spiralling tuition.
A certain blogger has defended tenure a number of times, on the grounds that it is a system in place when he started and that he has made many sacrifices, both in time spent working towards advanced degrees and in foregone salary. It would therefore be grossly unfair to abolish tenure, for it was part of an implied contract between himself and...ah, society when he started.
What occupation is there that this type of thing couldn't be said of? No one wants competition in the ranks, and at different times and places workers of all kinds have striven to exclude or hobble competitors through unions, licensing, government regulations, or diplomas. If the government declared tomorrow that anyone could practice medicine, no doubt most would still consult an M.D., but there would be an uproar from the medical profession. They would have new competitors who are unhobbled by the weight of ten or more years of higher education. One constantly reads stories in places like the Wall Street Journal about groups like hairdressers and cab drivers who, with a system in place that guarantees them a job, seek to stifle competition in the form of, say, people who have not taken the required 1600 hours in cosmetology and passed an exam. Nurses, doctors, firemen, policemen, primary and secondary teachers: all are licensed and/or must pass qualifying exams. Retail stores, liquor stores, bars and restaurants: heavily regulated and with significant barriers to entry. In my own profession, that of clinical lab scientist, we are licensed and must pass annual continuing education; we have a high entry barrier in the form of a B.S. in microbiology or a related field plus a year of low- or no-paid internship; that license has long been under threat by groups of legislators and employers colluding to cut their costs, and the reality of the threat in California grows greater every day.
But isn't the guarantee of a high entry barrier in the form of my license part of the deal when I undertook such extensive education and training? It seems grossly unfair that what cost me six years of work and foregone income might be taken away. Unfortunately, that's life. I fail to see how the professor's case is different. Continuity? As it is, nothing is stopping a professor from departing any time he wants and leaving his grad students behind, so an argument for tenure using that premise would seem to require a reciprocal binding agreement on the professor. Continuity would seem to apply to many other professions as well, such as the aforementioned physicians, primary teachers, dentists, lawyers, etc. As for academic freedom, these days a tenured professor is possibly just about the only person in America who cannot get sacked for his opinions: workplaces all now have extensive lists of what may or may not be said by employees under pain of termination, and many politically incorrect opinions show up on these lists. (Any expression of what is deemed "bigotry" for example, like the disapproval of homosexuality or illegal border crossing.) So why should professors be exempt? Because their opinions are so important? I think any conservative would have to laugh that one out of court.
Competition for a place in the academic world is huge; in some cases, hundreds of Ph.D.'s apply for an open university teaching position. Tenure is a way to reduce that competition; its abolition could help improve teaching, redirect a lot of grad students toward more productive lines of study or work, and reduce the cost of tuition through competition.