Abolish All Regulation

Though there is not enough space here to list all examples of government regulation in all industries, the same types of cause-and-effect with negative outcomes explained above apply to almost every industry and government agency. Regulations related to even those areas where people strongly believe government should have sole power to keep us safe can be shown to be detrimental to our lives. For example, the FDA delays (often for decades) in approving, or prevents us from having, life-saving drugs and technologies that are available in other countries. Conversely, it approves dangerous food, drugs, and products. Free-market consumer agencies — whose success depends on getting it right — could serve the public’s interest much more effectively, with many fewer deaths involved.

Virtually all regulation is politically-based, and merely enables one group to benefit at the expense of another. Regulation does not, as most people believe, help and protect all of society. Contradictory as it may sound, only the free market can regulate the marketplace. Intense competition among multiple parties, all seeking profits, ensures that products will be as safe as possible, that prices will be as low as possible, that quality will be as high as possible, and that consumers will always have alternatives. It is laws and the court system that protect us; regulation, on the other hand, often forces citizens to deal with monopolies or other inefficient entities that lack the incentive to do the right thing. Government can’t help us, but the self-regulating free market can.