Imposed Regulations

It always seems strange to me how very contradictory our economic demands are compared to our public demands.  We in the U.S. hold on dearly to our capitalism, maintaining the “American Dream” – if you work hard enough, you’ll be successful.  If you’re not successful, well, that’s your fault.  Our tycoons and kings of the free markets built their empires through smart business moves and the sweat of their brows, fueling the fires of competition to bring the best and least expensive product to the masses.  Capitalism, after all, is spurred on by competition, hence the Mergers and Monopolies commission, which regulates markets to ensure fair competition.

But wait a minute?  How can we be both competitive and “fair” at the same time?  Isn't that the point of capitalism – “I built it, it’s mine, and the government needs to butt out!” – to build and maximize and adapt to survive?  Our economic system and deeply held cultural beliefs stem from Social Darwinism: only the strong survive.  However, we don’t live in a completely free market economy to allow private businesses the wiggle room to manage their own affairs.  We've added government regulations, taxes and tariffs, and publicly funded programs to the mix, hindering the private markets’ ability to self-regulate.

Damn right, some of you may say.  Let Big Brother get out of the picture and leave us in peace.  Let business take care of business and the government to take care of…something else.

Now, think, what would happen if the government truly played no role in public life, allowed for a fully capitalistic system to emerge, free from influence and free from any of those “social(ist)” programs interfering with the balance of power.  Programs such as welfare, roads, bridges, the correctional system, the military, police and fire protection, minimum wage, the 40-hour workweek, labor laws, public education (including the state university systems and tech schools), FEMA, Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, and tax breaks for businesses, dependents  home-owners, people in school, IRA contributions, work-travel, and charitable donations should all be out the window…

So what do we really want?