On Protectionism

I can’t think of a single economic or business regulation imposed by people who call themselves “government” that is not primarily a form of protectionism for established interests. Think about it this way: every real crime imaginable is already illegal in both legislative and customary senses. Theft and fraud are illegal. Assault and battery are illegal. Murder and poisoning people are illegal. If you intentionally or accidentally cause quantifiable damages to another person or group of people, you are legally liable and will be prosecuted for a crime or sued for negligence. What is the point of imposing additional rules on economic actors which may or may not be dealing with crimes that are already illegal? I’ll tell you: to protect the profits of established interests by artificially increasing the costs of doing business (or prohibiting it outright) to new firms and workers. If not for reasons of liberty, then for reasons of removing economic protections afforded wealthier people (ie. the 1%), all economic and business regulations must go. And that’s today’s two cents.

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Founder and editor of Everything-Voluntary.com and UnschoolingDads.com, Skyler is a husband and unschooling father of three beautiful children. His writings include the column series “One Voluntaryist’s Perspective” and “One Improved Unit,” and blog series “Two Cents“. Skyler also wrote the books No Hitting! and Toward a Free Society, and edited the books Everything Voluntary and Unschooling Dads. You can hear Skyler chatting away on his podcasts, Everything Voluntary and Thinking & Doing.