Regulations: When It Is Regulation; When It Is Socialism
The word "regulation" has two dictionary meanings
1: the act of regulating : the state of being regulated
2
a : an authoritative rule dealing with details or procedure <safety regulations>
b : a rule or order issued by an executive authority or regulatory agency of a government and having the force of law
Leftists, being the pastmasters at misusing the language, have used these two meanings of the word regulation to impose socialism through backdoor, first in the free market economies of the western world, and now in the economies like India which had partially rolled back socialism.
All human beings, including proponents of free market and separation of economy and State, agree that all order is force only, and there have to be laws guiding the human affairs, and those laws need force to implement them. Criminal and Civil laws are now known enough to varying degrees to all citizens and are called laws only. However, the laws governing industries, trade, and businesses are normally called regulations, and Leftists have picked up the thread from here. So, as it is common sense to have laws governing industries, trade, and businesses; and therefore regulations in the sense of law have wide support, the Leftists quietly started to use the first meaning of the word regulation listed above, and have now imposed effective State control on industries, trade, and businesses.
So, as they realised that they can not run industries, trade, and businesses in direct control and ownership of State, they have skilfully changed the tactic and now control industries, trade, and businesses without having any responsibility for their running.
They have collectivised incomes in the name of Welfare State/helping the helpless; and they have taken control of industries, trade, and businesses through regulation. So even the free market economies of the Western European Countries and the US are now free on paper only; in reality, through the stratagems of "regulation" and "Welfare State," the Leftists have turned them into socialist economies by stealth.
No advocate of free market has ever claimed that "there are no malpractices in capitalism. Man is fallen and, under any system, some will give to temptation. It is simply that, in a state-run economy, corruption is systemic and semilegal. Indeed, the most egregious wrongdoing in free economies tend to be the ones that involve governments: lobbying for improper favours, securing taxpayer bailouts, and the like. Greed-that is desire for material possessions-is not a product of markets, but a product of human genome evolved from the primordial soup. Capitalism harnesses greed to socially productive ends. The way to become rich in a free economy is to give others what they want, not to suck up to those in power."
For example, nobody denies the need for Environmental protection agencies, and nobody says that government doesn't need to have Police Powers to secure public safety, public health, and public morals. But the word "police" also tells us when it is a regulation to ensure these three objectives, and when a regulation is a Leftist stratagem to control economy. Police tells you what is legal and what is illegal, and what punishment you will get if you do something illegal. It doesn't tell you to obtain from police a No Objection Certificate before you step out of your home, lest you harm the first guy you meet. After all, every human being is a potential mischief maker. The police catches those who actually make mischief, it doesn't ask a person to prove that he won't commit mischief for allowing him freedom of movement.
So environmental regulations which set limits of chemicals for emissions and effluents are Police Power regulations, but environmental regulations which tell a factory to obtain No Objection Certificate before starting production is a Leftist stratagem to control business and mint money in bribes.
There are three simple objective tests to know when a regulation is a Police Power regulation, and when it is socialism by other name. Free market works on three fundamental premises: 1. Everything that is not prohibited is permitted. 2. Presumption of legality. Everything that has not been expressly declared illegal is legal. 3. Presumption of innocence. No human being has to prove his innocence. State has to go to a court and prove that he is not innocent.
It should be self evident to every human being that permission-ocracy, clearance-ocracy, license-ocracy, and NOC-ocracy; all violate all the three premises of a society of free born, adult human beings; and therefore are not the legitimate use of Police Power, but State control of industries, trade, and businesses. And it has the same consequences as it has when it is explicitly called State control of industries, trade, and businesses-it destroys all three.