Government Knows Best?

People in this country love brands. From the brand of our appliances to our clothes and personal items, we have quite a lot of customization available to us.

Because of the blessing of liberty, I can stand proudly and say, "I prefer Colgate toothpaste." And because I always buy Colgate, that company is encouraged and rewarded by the money I spend on them.

But it doesn't stop at toothpaste. Do you prefer Apple computers or Microsoft? Playstation 3 or X-Box 360? Wendy's, McDonald's, or Burger King? Blackberry or iPhone?

That's the beauty of the free market. The companies that produce the most of what people want will prosper. If a company doesn't listen to what the people want, it goes out of business. And we all get the freedom (mostly) to choose what we like, as well as how and when we like it.

As we've demonstrated throughout the centuries, there are other avenues for fulfilling our basic needs, namely various levels of government. Today, we hear a lot of rhetoric about the government ensuring the right to this or that - like housing, or health care.

But the government is essentially different from the market we're used to dealing with, even though we sometimes don't see that difference. Fundamentally, when we ask for increased government benefits, we sacrifice our freedom to choose.

Instead of many brands to choose from, we get whatever the government bureaucrats think is best for us. Instead of paying for goods and services at the cash register whenever we choose, we are compelled to pay out of our paychecks when we work. Instead of participating in voluntary trade, we must trade with an entity that deals by force in place of mutual benefit.

Unless you're self-sufficient, you have to trade with someone to get what you need. More and more, people are turning to the government for that sense of security and 'fairness.'

The government offers us many amenities today - unemployment, Welfare, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security. We forego the choice of whether to participate in paying for these programs in exchange for the assurance that they'll be there if we need them. If you'd rather keep your money, and take your chances, you can't opt out the way you can in a free market. So essentially the preferences of some become the mandate for everyone.

Moreover, even partial government 'solutions' in the economy raise the cost of business, which means higher prices for all. Companies must employ compliance and legal departments as the regulations become more complex and onerous. According to a report published by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, "regulatory compliance costs hit an estimated $1.157 trillion in 2007."

In other words, businesses paid over a trillion dollars trying to comply with the tens of thousands of pages of federal regulations, and the taxpayers paid $44.5 billion in enforcement costs. All these costs seem invisible because they show up in higher prices, which means less for our money. In addition to the costs, these regulations directly limit the choices available to consumers – under the philosophy of 'government knows best.'

Sometimes people get so caught up in the idea that the government has some sort of magic wand to 'fix the shortcomings' of our freedom, we forget how much we pay in return.

If the choice is to fend for myself, but maintain the freedom to direct my life, or to passively accept whatever 'majority rule' decisions are made the government way, I'd gladly take liberty. Especially if the government brand of toothpaste turns out not to be Colgate.