A new Reason-Rupe poll finds Americans increasingly tired of government banning everything they like.
The federal government recently proposed rules that would effectively ban trans fats, but 71 percent of Americans say they should be allowed to buy foods with trans fats if they so choose. Just under a quarter, 24 percent of Americans, say foods with trans fats should not be allowed.
The Food and Drug Administration recently ordered a genetic testing company to stop selling its DNA tests. Reason-Rupe finds 55 percent of Americans believe they should be allowed to buy genetic testing kits that provide information about a person’s DNA, 37 percent say these should not be allowed.
Over three quarters of Americans, 76 percent, say they should be allowed to buy high-caffeine energy drinks.
Unfortunately, these preferences don’t seem to be reflected in the behavior of government bureaucrats, such as those at the FTC who are bravely fighting against the scourge of anticompetitive music teachers.
In March of this year, a small nonprofit in Cincinnati—the Music Teachers National Association—received a letter from the FTC. The agency was investigating whether the association was engaged in, uh, anticompetitive practices.This was bizarre, given that the MTNA has existed since 1876 solely to advance the cause of music study and support music teachers. The 501(c)(3) has about 22,000 members, nearly 90% of them piano teachers, including many women who earn a modest living giving lessons in their homes. The group promotes music study and competitions and helps train teachers. Not exactly U.S. Steel.
The association’s sin, according to the feds, rested in its code of ethics. The code lays out ideals for members to follow—a commitment to students, colleagues, society. Tucked into this worthy document was a provision calling on teachers to respect their colleagues’ studios, and not actively recruit students from other teachers.
That’s a common enough provision among professional organizations (doctors, lawyers), yet the FTC avers that the suggestion that Miss Sally not poach students from Miss Lucy was an attempt to raise prices for piano lessons. Given that the average lesson runs around $30 an hour, and that some devoted teachers still give lessons for $5 a pop, this is patently absurd.
Comity, it seems, will not be tolerated by the FTC. You might enjoy a society with such quaint codes of honor, but the government will have none of it. It’s interesting to note that the same government which whines constantly about capitalist “greed” and “unfettered markets” is actively prohibiting participants from agreeing to a basic code of ethics aimed at mitigating those same qualities, though working at cross-purposes is common in a large and unwieldy government with a haphazardly constructed bureaucracy.
Perhaps the very public, and entirely predictable, display of incompetence by the federal government throughout the recent Obamacare debacle is turning the public off of big government. This will be an excellent development, as eroding the fantastical belief in the ability to centrally manage society is essential to reducing the excessive use and abuse of government power.
