Back to Basics

As promised this evening, I have brought forth a topic that I am a little excited to have some of you folks, who are so entrenched in your beliefs about regulation and government’s necessity in the realm of business, sink your teeth into and debate here at SUFA. I will allow the topic to rest on its own for two days until Tuesday night’s open mic (simply meaning I won’t be posting a new article on Monday night). I have spent the last couple of years debating with folks here and elsewhere that I believe that the market could take care of things better than the government. I don’t actually feel that there is any question as to the validity of that statement. The government hasn’t met a regulation that has worked. Sure some of them make small improvements in some areas, but the problem is that the unintended consequences seem to always negate any good that comes from regulation. Nowhere is this more evident than in the world controlled by the Food and Drug Administration. Not only is regulation completely ineffective in that realm, but the unintended consequences are devastating to a society that has the potential to be much farther down the path of better health than the FDA has allowed.

So what I am going to offer here is my vision for the elimination of the Food and Drug Administration. I cannot claim that all of what I will say here is 100% mine. It is the result of reading many different ideas and having many different discussions with people over the years. I wish I could name every person who had a thought that contributed. Some of them are in books (John Stossel, Hayek, and Andrew Napolitano for example), while others I knew only as “that guy I talked to while waiting for the Metro in DC.” Now let me first address the concept that I am espousing here:

I fully understand that we cannot eliminate the FDA tomorrow and think that everything is going to magically transform and the private markets are going to have instant solutions. I also understand that the idea of doing so simply scares the poo out of anyone who still, in their own mind, cannot grasp the concept of a world without government regulation. That means that any proposal that would take this drastic step would be shouted down by the same type of people who sound the alarm that without government intervention the climate will change, Bill Gates will buy the Presidency, and Coca-Cola will go back to putting Cocaine in their soft drinks.

That is why what I offer is a two-step proposal. We will get to the two steps in a bit. Step two is actually quite simple. It is nothing more than eliminating the FDA. But in my opinion we have to do step one first. Before I get to explaining step one, I thought the first relevant thing to do was justify why this is necessary at all.

Maybe we should take a lesson from history. Maybe it is time to take radical action against a government that is no longer for the people, is run by special interests, where taxation is out of control, and where corruption is going unchecked. Maybe it is time to take a stand.

Our forefathers believed in a free America. They made a statement of taxation without representation in their demonstration at the Boston Tea Party. At that time the British government was taxing them 14% and that was outrageous! The country went to war to declare our independence and established a democracy – one that was supposed to be for the people, governed by the people.

…As corruption continues and the Chicago style gangster government takes over, this country is no longer for the people, nor governed by the people. When taxation is reaching 50% who is in control? When do we finally say enough!

As the country continued down the path of growth, another obstacle surfaced – the question of slavery. Isn’t it ironic that the person who is abusing his power now only became a free person because of a radical uprising among the people. The battle between the north and south became so intense that the southern states decided to secede from the union and create their own country. The Civil War broke out to settle these differences.

…Are we on the path to a civil war? When the battle lines are drawn down the middle in changes that mean our very lives are at stake, do we cave or do we fight?

It wasn’t all that long ago when this country was at war and people were out protesting. The blacks were demanding equal rights and they were out protesting. Women wanted equal rights and they were out burning bras in protest. If there was a cause, there was a protest, because that was the only way to get anyone’s attention. It is only because of the dedication of those radicals that many of our top government officials have been given their opportunity today.

…Have your forgotten what you once stood for, what you once fought for? You are of the right age to remember those days, and if you lived in the United States, potentially participated in those protests that brought about the changes you now reap the rewards from. Yet the very abuses you fought so hard against are some of the same types of abuses you are embracing today. What happened in your journey to the top?

Then a presidency with the biggest scandal in history – Watergate. The secrets, the scandals, the corruption! How could this have happened? Illegal break-ins, improper tax audits, campaign fraud, illegal campaign contributions, the refusal of the president to release information…and the list went on. The Watergate Scandal brought about changes in campaign financing, laws requiring financial disclosures by key government officials, expectations that certain types of personal disclosure were made. Watergate exposed lies, crimes and corruption and the investigation established that no president is above the law.

…Or did it? Why hasn’t our president released information like those before him?