John Stossel’s latest article is titled “Free to Choose”.

I always find it interesting how the “enlightened” amongst us love the notion of choice, when it benefits them. That choice is good, when it’s a woman’s body. That choice is good, when we choose the lifestyle we lead. But then somehow choice becomes a bad thing when it comes to buying and selling goods and services. When it comes to our health, it’s bad that we’re allowed to choose (yet wasn’t it “my body, my choice”? I guess they can choose when to apply that choice.). Of course, so much of it comes down to them knowing what’s better for us — they can choose for us, because they know what’s best for us. Thank you, Mother.

But you see, the reason “free market” and true choice tends to work out better is because there are real consequences for failure. Stossel sums it up:

“The free market enables people … to trade with whomever they want; to buy in the cheapest market around the world; to sell in the dearest. … (B)ut most important of all: If they fail, they bear the cost.”

Actually, he’s quoting Milton Friedman. The point is solid: if they fail, they bear the cost.

When we look to government to solve our problems, it rarely works out. Why? Because they don’t bear the cost. Think about it. A businessman makes a bad business decision, spends all his money on a crappy ad campaign, it drums up no business for him, and he’ll go out of business. Thus why the businessman will do his best to make the right decisions up front because they don’t want to risk failure.

Ever notice when you have to turn to a government official or body for help on something, it doesn’t work out that great? Just take going to the DMV. Why don’t they care? Because even if they fail, even if all things suck, it doesn’t matter to them. They have no personal investment in the success (or failure) of the entity, of serving you, of anything. There is no choice in the matter.

So who ends up bearing the cost? I do. You do. That’s not how it should be. Yet there are those that continue to clamor for the government to solve all our ills, never thinking through the cost of making that fatal choice.