“Big government liberals get really brave when they are fighting Happy Meals, salt, soda, and Uber, but they don’t take serious steps to stop a nuclear North Korea, or the terrorists in their midst.”
London made news Friday morning by banning Uber in the city. Some 3.5 million passengers and 40,000 drivers use the app, but the regulating commission said it was “not fit and proper” to operate in the city, citing “public safety and security concerns.” This is typical government regulation sold to the public as a way to protect the people, even as they ignore real threats, and those regulations are really protecting certain industries by stifling the competition.
Uber took advantage of the fact that most people have a car and a driver’s license, and wouldn’t mind making a bit of extra money on the side. The cab companies regularly lose money because disrupting forces like Uber are usually safer, cheaper, and faster. The politicians can’t come out and say that they are trying to regulate a company out of existence, so they justify their reactions out of “safety concerns.”
The taxi conglomerate argue that these regulations are needed to protect the people. Here in Las Vegas they regularly cite all sorts of horror stories and then say that background checks and training ensure a safe ride. But the average citizen with a driver’s license already knows how to drive, and even the well-regulated still break the law. For example, despite stringent government mandated teaching requirements, there has been a continued wave of improper student-teacher relationships. Thank God the government regulations were there to save our kids. So these regulations touted by cab companies are pretty meaningless at their stated goals of providing safety, but are excellent at making the existing jobs more lucrative.
Meanwhile, there are real safety concerns that often remain neglected. Big government liberals get really brave when they are fighting Happy Meals, salt, soda, and Uber, but they don’t take serious steps to stop a nuclear North Korea, or the terrorists in their midst. In London, this is a particular problem, as officials are so worried about being labelled racists and the media intellectuals are so ready to level that charge, that they don’t take basic measures like surveilling mosques to prevent violence. They’ve had three attacks in London just this year, but like liberals across the pond in America they refuse to identify the problem within Muslim communities. But by all means let’s stand up to the evil Uber drivers.
The people need to be aware of the tools that politicians use to pursue their own self-interest. They never come out and say, “we are saving the taxi cab industry because they’re so rich and powerful that they can help us get reelected so we do what they want.” They instead claim that they are saving the people, calling Uber unsafe, and downplaying or ignoring real threats such as terrorism because it’s hard to make a case in a politically-correct, multi-cultural world that some of those dark-skinned people want to kill you.
This ban will likely prove to be vastly unpopular because the harried London commuters need as many options as possible, but the people should not buy into the politician’s rhetoric, and demand that they make the difficult choices in governing.
