Big government doesn’t stand up for little guy

I remember in class when Professor Oluf openly stated that libertarians are foolish because their ideas fail to address inequality. I don’t think he would have enjoyed Dr. Higgs’ lecture, though he probably would have learned something.

Robert Higgs’ lecture galloped through the history of the United States and briefly outlined the increase of the State’s rise to power in America. He seemed to focus on what he called special interests and how the growth of the state favors them rather than the public good.

The lecture was insightful, as Higgs explained that corporations are not the guardians of laissez faire capitalism. In truth it is often businesses that pine for regulation.

As Milton Friedman said, “People think that if a business party is a party in politics, it will promote free market. But that’s wrong.” Milton continues to explain how businesses want the government to grant them tariffs or enact regulations that benefit them.

Chapter 8 of Jonah Goldberg’s book, “Liberal Fascism,” details how big government is often big at the expense of the little guy. He uses the steel industry during the 19th century in the Progressive era of American politics.

“The big steel firms were terrified that free competition would undermine their predatory monopolies, so they asked the government to intervene and the government happily obliged U.S. Steel,” Goldberg said.

Robert Higgs is quoted in Chapter 8 of Liberal Fascism.

“Historians have generally concluded that these businessmen-turned-bureaucrats used their positions to establish and enforce what amounted to cartel arrangements for various 20 industries,” Higgs said.

In essence, businesses are quite happy with big government if they get to say how big government treats them.

In 1906, Upton Sinclair published “The Jungle.” It was a book detailing the practices of the meat industry. It caused uproar across the country. As a response, Congress passed the “Pure Food and Drug Act” of 1906. What I was taught in school was that this act prevented meat packers from tainting their food and made consumers healthier and safer. It was big business against the little guy. You were probably taught the same thing. It’s the story written in “The American Pageant,” one of the most popular textbooks in American high schools.

Upton Sinclair himself said, “The Federal inspection of meat was, historically, established at the packer’s request.”

Smaller butcher shops had a harder time paying the cost of regulation than the largest meat companies. Also, large firms could claim that their meats were superior to uncertified meats. Keep in mind that these regulations were always done under the guise of being for the little guy, a point Robert Higgs made especially clear in his lecture.

“The state propagandizes itself as the protector of the people,” Higgs said.

Regulatory power is the mythical weapon the state uses to advertise itself as fighting on behalf of the people.

Sometimes businesses are forced into becoming government lobbyists. Bill Gates didn’t much care about Washington D.C. before the anti-trust litigation that targeted Microsoft was proposed in 2000. He described himself as being, “from the other Washington.” However, once the government took him to court, Gates became heavily involved in politics and hired a battalion of lobbyists and lawyers. Conceivably, the money that went into hiring lobbyists and lawyers could have gone into creating a Windows Program that is actually reliable.

This is a case where a business didn’t want to tie itself to the power of the state, but it had to in order to protect itself.

DYLAN DUKE GINTZ
ARBITER JOURNALIST

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