On whether less government regulation is always better, for my Libertarian-leaning friends.
I'm not saying that regulation is good, or bad. Rather, I've learned that each case must be considered on its own merits.
You see, I'm an airline pilot. And you probably know that flying is the safest form of transportation. It wasn't always so.
You may also know that many commercial aspects of the airline industry were "deregulated" in the early '80's. The result has been cheaper tickets (with the tradeoff of declining standards of service, and extra fees for just about everything.) But behind the ticket counter, regulations abound. Airlines, manufacturers, maintainers and pilots are all are subject to minute government scrutiny and control. And that's as it should be. Virtually every one of the regulations under which we operate were written in blood, as a result of accidents.
So it is a result of BOTH strict regulation AND deregulation, that air travel remains safe AND affordable.
So it seems to me that blanket ideological beliefs espousing "less government interference" are poor substitutes for well-informed and thoroughly researched policy opinions. Some activities benefit from regulation; some would do well with less. But most importantly, poorly informed opinions on complex topics (heathcare, climate change and the economy come to mind), informed solely by general principles like "less is better," are just plane foolish.
I'm not saying that regulation is good, or bad. Rather, I've learned that each case must be considered on its own merits.
You see, I'm an airline pilot. And you probably know that flying is the safest form of transportation. It wasn't always so.
You may also know that many commercial aspects of the airline industry were "deregulated" in the early '80's. The result has been cheaper tickets (with the tradeoff of declining standards of service, and extra fees for just about everything.) But behind the ticket counter, regulations abound. Airlines, manufacturers, maintainers and pilots are all are subject to minute government scrutiny and control. And that's as it should be. Virtually every one of the regulations under which we operate were written in blood, as a result of accidents.
So it is a result of BOTH strict regulation AND deregulation, that air travel remains safe AND affordable.
So it seems to me that blanket ideological beliefs espousing "less government interference" are poor substitutes for well-informed and thoroughly researched policy opinions. Some activities benefit from regulation; some would do well with less. But most importantly, poorly informed opinions on complex topics (heathcare, climate change and the economy come to mind), informed solely by general principles like "less is better," are just plane foolish.
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