Trump Heads to NATO With New Defense Spending Expectations
CNN's Anti-Trump Narrative Fell Apart Live On-Air Last Night
There's a Reason Why No One Was Stunned by Iran's Response to Trump's...
Here's What Trump Had to Say About Regime Change in Iran
This Couple's Baby Was Decapitated During Birth. What a Doctor Did After Was...
Trump Utterly Humiliates Democrats Calling for His Impeachment
Why Aren't the Anti-Gunners Calling for Gun Control After the Michigan Church Shooting?
Thank You For Your Attention to This Matter
Islamic State Terrorist Kills Dozens of Syrian Christians in Attack on Orthodox Church
Foreign Policy Expert Calls This Move by Israel Key in 'Opening the Path...
In Expletive-Laced Remarks, Trump Blasts Continued Fighting Between Israel, Iran
Rep. Robert Garcia Picked as the New Oversight Ranking Member
Texas Democrat Introduces an Article of Impeachment Against Trump Over Iran Strikes
Chicago Tribune Has Warning for NYC Voters Ahead of Mayoral Primary
Here's Why Trump Lashed Out at ‘Sleazebag’ Journalists
OPINION

Bullies Rule

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

We're told government protects us, but protectors quickly become bullies.

Take the Food and Drug Administration. It seems like the most helpful part of government: It supervises testing to make sure greedy drug companies don't sell us dangerous stuff.

Advertisement

The FDA's first big success was stopping thalidomide, a drug that prevented the nausea of morning sickness. It was approved first in Europe, where some mothers who took it proceeded to give birth to children with no arms and legs.

The FDA didn't discover the problems with thalidomide. It was just slow. The drug application was stuck in the FDA's bureaucracy. But being slow prevented birth defects in America.

It taught politicians and bureaucracy that slower is better.

Then the FDA grew, like a tumor.

Today, it takes up to 15 years to get a new drug approved. Though most devices and drugs never are.

What do Americans lose when regulators say "no"?

Usually, we never find out. We don't know what vaccines or painkillers are never developed because regulation discouraged companies from trying something new.

But here's one example where we do know what we lost:

Uterine prolapse is a common and nasty complication of childbearing. It causes urinary incontinence and terminates most couples' sex lives. Complicated surgery and clumsy devices didn't offer much help until device companies developed implants that often did.

However, since biology is unpredictable, some implants fail. In 2011, the FDA abruptly demanded "more studies."

The bullies' mandate unleashed a hornets' nest of tort lawyers. They advertised, "Did your device fail? Call, and we will get you money!" They soon piled up so many suits that device manufacturers' insurers canceled liability coverage. Device companies then withdrew devices from the market.

Advertisement

So now women suffering from uterine prolapse have fewer options. This is a price of bureaucratic "caution."

Reasonable people can debate whether the FDA assures product efficacy and safety. But the regulatory boot always presses toward delay.

Innovators don't dare make a move without saying, "Regulator, may I please?"

In rare cases, when new devices are approved, there is a new obstacle: complex marketing restrictions. Say something about your product that the government doesn't like, and you may be fined. The Office of the Inspector General and federal and state prosecutors troll for rule violations, then sue and fine.

This harms patients. Most never know they were harmed, because we never know what we might have had.

There are only two ways to do things in life: voluntarily or by force. Government is force. Government bureaucrats, who spend their whole lives pushing the rest of us around, easily become bullies.

We need some government force. The worst places in the world are countries that don't have rule of law. Then people are afraid to build factories because mobs may steal what they make, or a dictator may take the whole factory. No one builds, so everyone stays poor.

It's good America has rule of law. It's good we have a military to defend us from foreign attacks, police that keep the peace, courts that ensure contracts are honored, environmental rules that punish polluters.

Advertisement

But now our government goes way beyond that. It employs 22 million people. Not all have the power to impose force on the rest of us, but millions do. Some use it to bully us in big and petty ways.

Twenty-two million government workers delay the Keystone XL oil pipeline, raid poker games, force us to put ethanol in cars, prohibit drugs and medical devices that might make our lives better, take about half our money, and jail more citizens than even China and Russia do.

Like frightened kids in elementary school, we learn to accept this, to think it's natural. But it's not right that government forbids people in pain to make their own choices about what might help them.

Voluntary is better than force. Free is better than coerced. We're better off when government is small and people are left to do as they please, unbullied.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement