John Stossel‘s latest column explains why he’s not especially excited about Mitt Romney’s clear victory in last week’s presidential debate.
President Obama tanked in the last debate. Good.
Now maybe people will listen when Mitt Romney says things like, “The genius of America is the free enterprise system, and freedom, and the fact that people can go out there and start a business. … The private market and individual responsibility always work best.”
They do.
But then Romney responded to Obama by essentially saying: I want big government, too!
We who hope for smaller government as a way to expand liberty and create prosperity are disturbed by what we heard last week. The GOP candidate painted himself as a big government man.
“Regulation is essential. … Every free economy has good regulation.”
He added the obligatory, “Regulation can become excessive,” but showed no sign of understanding that free competition — unrestricted by government monopolistic privilege — is the best regulation. Nothing better protects consumers and workers than free choice in a competitive marketplace.
Romney also made it clear that he doesn’t want to reduce government revenues. He insisted that his 20 percent cut in tax rates would be revenue neutral.
