Unwavering Trust in the State

It's amazing to see people still having full faith and confidence in the state after all the harm they've done to us over the years. An example of this blind trust came from a Facebook friend of mine who claimed that the root cause of the submarine incidence the other day was due to a lack of state oversight. If only the state had been given broader powers to regulate the submarine market, lives would have been saved. However, this simplistic thinking overlooks several key points.

For one, state run certification agencies have a lousy track record. They make mistakes, they are easily corrupted, and they never have to pay the price for being wrong. When state run certification agencies fail, they get more funding. When private certification agencies fail, they lose business.

The Boeing Max planes that dropped out of the sky a few years ago were certified by the state. The Titanic was certified according to state rules. The vaccines we were told to take during the virus scare were certified by the state. All these disasters were largely due to state interference in the certification business. To think that even more state regulation would solve any of this is naïve to say the least. Besides, lots of people don't even bother to ask if something is certified or not.

One reason so many people don't bother to ask if a product or service has been certified is again due to the state. People simply assume that everything is certified by the state. Why ask about certification status if the answer is a given? However, in a free market with no directives from the state, more people would want to know the certification status of things they get themselves involved with. Not only would they ask if something is certified, they would also want to know by whom the certification was given. Only reputable agencies would be trusted.

But there will always be those who are willing to risk it regardless of safety issues. The question then becomes, is it really the state's business to make sure that no-one ever does anything without a permit?

Cyclops 1 Submersible

By Isabeljohnson25 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link