“More than ambition, more than ability, it is rules that limit contribution; rules are the lowest common denominator of human behavior. They are a substitute for rational thought.”
–Hyman George Rickover
This quote from Admiral Rickover is one of my favorite and can describe one of Libertarian’s biggest dilemmas; rules, laws, and regulations. As much as an individual may want to succeed and make progress, they are restricted by these because of the incompetence of few. Take away speed limits and the majority of people will still drive a safe speed, with the exception of your friend who swears his 1991 Mustang can go 160mph. I synonymies Libertarianism with rational thought, with its lowest common denominator being the Bill of Rights. A society needs a foundation and a healthy balance of laws, but too many will cause more harm than good and sacrifice freedom for the illusion of safety.
Some laws and regulations are made to only benefit a few at the expense of others. Commonly referred as protectionism laws, they are used to protect businesses from competition. Big sugar is a popular example. Even though sugar costs half as much outside the US, tariffs are in place to ensure they can’t compete with the few wealthy American sugar companies in the US. This costs the American consumers billions and singlehandedly crushed my hopes in owning a bottled Shirley Temple business. Many people accept this believing it is overall good for the economy because the money “stays in the U.S.” However, regulations like these drive up the costs of American products making them more difficult to compete in the global economy. These protection laws are not just limited to sugar. They are the reason we pay more to only buy vehicles from dealerships. They are preventing companies like Uber and Lyft from providing cheaper alternative transportation to protect the interest of large taxi companies. They can also prevent you from starting your business if you can’t prove there is a demand for it, which basically means if your new bra fitting business causes other companies to need to lower their prices to compete with you, it won’t be allowed.
There is also what I call “feel good” laws; laws that have no other purpose other than to make some people feel better. Many Republicans today talk down to the PC culture poking fun at the snowflakes for being so easily offended and needing their safe space yet they will fight same sex marriage, prostitution, and nudity for no reason other than it makes them feel bad. Libertarians may have different opinions and various extremes, but they ultimately respect people’s rights to do what they want with their body. This allows a general agreement with most social issues, the biggest outlier is abortion. The reason this one differentiates is because of the diverse opinion on when a fetus should have basic human rights.
There are also “feel good” laws that have been passed to place restrictions and regulations on businesses so that the customer feels safe with the product. In an age where communication is quick and easy and more and more consumers rely on the reviews of products from the internet to determine the quality of the goods they are buying, government intervention is becoming more obsolete. If kids want to set up a lemonade stand, they must have the appropriate permits usually costing over $100, have a health inspector verify it meets health code, comply with local ordinances, and be careful with not violating any child labor laws. It all sounds silly, but this is a continuous struggle for any business.
It is said that the average American breaks between 1 to 3 laws a day. We break laws knowingly because it seems irrelevant to us such as throwing an apple core outside (littering) or driving a few over the speed limit. But there are many laws that exist that you may not know you are breaking and there is little you can do to prevent yourself from being a criminal since we are never formally taught the laws. A quick search on the internet can reveal several websites with “[Insert number] of laws you break everyday without knowing.” People typically don’t break reasonable laws (murder, theft, kidnapping). The laws most commonly broken are ones that the individual does not agree with, ones that they find unreasonable. Laws enforced against harmless drug use, rip families apart, ruin lives and punish individuals for a crime that is baseless. You are more likely to die from an officer arresting you for marijuana possession than smoking it. Similar to the debate on gun control, banning big scary black guns will do nothing more than make criminals of millions of U.S. citizens since the majority that own them won’t agree with the law and will not obey any gun turn in.
The U.S has countless laws apply to us, continuously regulating anything from business, to your body and personal matters. As a nation we must fight irrational laws and regulations. Liberty has a price; it is not just the blood of patriots and tyrants, it comes with the burden of personal responsibility and not subjecting oneself to the binds of government for the perception of safety.
* Being formerly military, Derrick knows what it is like to lose your freedom and be a slave to government. He believes it’s why many veterans share libertarian opinions. He owes his introduction to being a libertarian from watching a 2008 Ron Paul prediction video and he has been hooked ever since.
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