I read, the other day, a note about some small town -- in Maine, I think -- where they passed an ordinance that effectively said anyone can sell anything without any oversight of any kind. You want to grind up beef and sell it? Go right ahead. Want to build a car and sell it? Be our guest. The people behind the ordinance said that if you wanted some kind of protection or reassurance, you were free to enter into an agreement with the seller, but that was entirely up to you.
I thought about that. I had to admit, it had a certain 'sturdy yeoman in the fields' simplicity. No FDA this and OSHA that. You take complete charge of your life and live it your way. I could see that being very appealing to people who believe that you, and you alone, are responsible for your life -- no one else gets a vote.
And it would be interesting to watch, the first time one of them buys a car that's defective, and then sitting down for a beer with, say, General Motors, to discuss the issue. I'm sure that would go really well.
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The people who propose these ideas always seem to live in a fantasy that includes corporations being actually concerned about them. On an individual basis. Instead of, oh "doing a Ford". Ford calculated how much it would cost them if some percentage of Crown Victoria's blew up because redesigning the car to make the gas tank less prone to (literally) blowing up was more expensive than paying compensation.
There's been a few cops over the years who can't be happy about that cynical calculation because their Crown Victoria police cars blew up.
Some people just are fanciful idiots. The problem is when they impose their fancies on the rest of us. (Besides which, they have a small matter of Federal law trumping their town law.)
Live Free Or Die. Wait, how about both?
Everybody hates socialism until you have to mail a letter or licence a doctor or make sure your beef is not laced with Salmonella or your milk doesnt have tuberulosis. I suppose the Maine-ites could hire independent testing labs to check out their local super market. But then, who would licence the testing labs?
Or you can just take a chance that the guy selling you the meat isnt trying to offload a brucellosis or CJD killed animal. And those rats in the restaurant window...well, maybe they didn't get into the kitchen. (snort!)
Considering that all these things were "caught" within the last year here in socialist Canada by socialist meat inspectors and socialist restaurant inspectors, I can only suggest that with NO oversight, we would see a LOT more deaths, suffering, and high profile legal cases.
Brenda suggests that you ask the people in Somalia if not having a regulatory government works. At the other end of the spectrum, in China they marketed tainted milk which killed babies, and the perpetrators got the death penalty. And they STILL do it! So what does this tell you? It tells ME that the only deterent to some people is the loss of income if they step out of line. Have their milk poured out into the streets, have their beef recalled. But who will do that if not the representatives of the people?
(Just watched a Turner Classic Movie last night which was strangely appropriate to this topic...The Oxbow Incident". Watch it, and see if you can pick up the similarities.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIDfzCzdjcs&feature=related
On the other hand, I remember the incomparable Robert Heinlein describing just such a society in the closing chapters of "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". Sounded like a plan at the time...
Never saw the movie-- that was with Henry Fonda, wasn't it? -- but I read the book in high school. Loved it. Well, it scared me, too. Surely adults don't act that way in real life?
Oh, yeah, Heinlein would love it. He was big on rugged individualism. And hey, that style of life worked in the 1800s. I imagine it still does in some places.
Well, the similarities in the movie come in when a posse got together, and in the heat of the moment held a vote on whether to "string 'em up". THAT is the similarity.
Wow, I didn't recall that. I just remember that the book made a big impact on me at the time.
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