If you’ve ever wondered why smaller government is better government just look at this:
. . . the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture USDA tests about 1% {of slaughtered cattle} for BSE, or Mad Cow Disease. But Creekstone Farms wants to test 100% of the cattle they process, at their own expense. The USDA won’t let them . . . their larger competitors could feel obliged to do the same, and this additional expense may lower their profit margins or raise the price of beef.
Which do you think is more dangerous – Mad Cow Disease, or:
Mad Bureaucrat Disease – insane regulations that sacrifice freedom and the public good for the interests of a few powerful corporate lobbyists.
Free Creekside’s testers!
This isn’t so much about small government than about the influence of large agribusiness on our government at the expense of smaller producers.
What this is really about is the natural influence of large corporations on a bureaucratic entity. Anytime the government interferes there is a bureaucracy created that can be manipulated by those with the most resources and we have to recognize that regulation in the long run tends to help the established players more than the innovative ones.
People buy into the regulation myth quite readily. Big players love regulation, as it raises barriers to entry into the market and hampers smaller competitors. It stifles competitiveness and allows bigger players to get even bigger without the necessity of being highly productive. On the whole, regulation does not buy us more safety.
It’s like hiring a drunk policeman to enforce prohibition – the mobsters know just how to satisfy the policeman so only those who won’t play nice with the policeman get punished, and those who play the nicest with him are able to convince him who deserves to be caught.