The purpose of government is to protect its citizens from all threats, foreign and domestic.
There are other protection mechanisms also: 1) your thinking cap, 2) threat of lawsuit, 3) Insurance, 4) Good business decisions to keep customers.
You remind me of my mayor as she is implementing draconian building codes that are putting many of us small landlords out of business. “I don’t care about you or your problems, this is all about safety.”
Do you really mean that? Will you give them carte blanch on that?
Yes, I do. It is the reason that humans invented governments thousands of years ago, and it is the reason that governments continue to exist. Both times I entered government service (Navy, then Army), I had to swear an oath that I would perform this function. And I take that oath very seriously.
The fact that some politicians see in government a way to exercise personal power and control other people does not change the fundamental purpose of government, any more than using shovels as wheelbarrow handles changes their purpose.
There are other protection mechanisms also: 1) your thinking cap, 2) threat of lawsuit, 3) Insurance, 4) Good business decisions to keep customers.
That libertarian fantasy is unlikely to work in the real world. Unfortunately, the con man who mixes sawdust with flour so he can sell it at a large profit doesn't really care about lawsuits or customers--as soon as he pockets his money, he'll disappear and show up somewhere else to run another scam. (Bulking up flour with sawdust was a common way food was adulterated prior to the foundation of the FDA precursor.)
You remind me of my mayor as she is implementing draconian building codes that are putting many of us small landlords out of business. “I don’t care about you or your problems, this is all about safety.”
The issue here is balance. Without building codes at all, we'd be like a third world nation, with thousands of deaths every time a natural disaster hits. The strictest building code in the world cannot prevent every accident, yet some politicians want to try anyway.