There is a certain mania afoot in politics these days that everything must be regulated. In the abstract, even a free market libertarian like me would agree. The question is, who gets to do the regulating?

It is here that current conversation fails. For, in general, once it’s agreed that regulation is necessary in a given situation, bickering begins over which bureaucrats get to issue the rules — government regulation is assumed. This misses possibly the most effective regulator: free market competition.