> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Don’t worry, ‘the man’ will handle everything
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/dont-worry-the-man-will-handle-everything/
- Published: 2007-02-27T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T23:24:36.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica Airport, #archive-import

*By Mallory Factor Guest Commentary MALLORY FACTOR is chairman of the Free Enterprise Fund*

WE’VE ALL SAID IT AT ONE TIME or another: “There ought to be a law.” But by solving consumer complaints with additional laws and regulations, we are creating much bigger problems. New law is not always the best solution.

After reading about passengers stranded on airport runways, many are calling for a “Passenger’s Bill of Rights.” Indeed, this idea had a lot of initial appeal. We have all been extremely frustrated with the airlines at one time or another. Perhaps, we have waited in long lines, had our luggage lost or sat for hours — only to have our flights canceled. The urge to litigate, or legislate, grows.

That’s why it’s so easy for Democrat Mike Thompson of California to introduce legislation for an Airline Passenger Bill of Rights. Who doesn’t like bills of rights? If one is good, why not many?

While introducing a customer Bill of Rights was a clever public relations move by JetBlue, this is a market-based solution. In comparison, regulating additional ‘rights’ may not be good policy. Just wait until all of those new regulations start to make their presence felt in even longer lines and greater hassles for passengers.

That is, after all, what is behind much of the current frustrations — excessive bureaucracy and red tape. And now the idea is to create even more? Welcome to the new Democratic Congress.

Conservatives complained that, when Democrats took over, it would be a new era of government regulation. They’re right, but it won’t be the usual demons that are easy to criticize. The regulation will come in small increments, in areas of our lives where we’ve all said, “Someone should do something about this.” And it won’t be the usual suspects, either. The champions of the new regulations will be folks that don’t first come to mind when we hear “liberal left.”

Consider Congressman George Miller (D-Calif.), who, as Chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee, is calling for an expansion of direct loans for college education. This idea may sound like a good idea to the public frustrated by the college debt burden. Miller has introduced a bill to “encourage” universities to switch from private lenders to the direct loan program, handled through the government rather than private lenders. He doesn’t think that private lenders should profit off of student loans — he’d rather build a government bureaucracy to do it.

Another new regulation in the pipeline is called “net neutrality.” Interest groups, both conservative and liberal, have banded together to form the “Save the Internet” coalition. But what it really should be called is “Regulate the Internet” coalition. They want to ensure that cable and telephone companies can’t charge higher prices to certain groups for faster service. How best to make sure that they don’t do that? Pass a new government regulation.

The crushing burden of regulation being proposed by the newly controlled Congress won’t be in the form of socialized medicine or mandated union organization (at least initially). It will be smaller items, things that sound good for the consumer at first, but which increase government control over the private sector. Lost your airline luggage? Ask the government to find it.Think CEO pay is too high? Mandate salaries. To some liberal Democrats, the solution will always be the same: government, government, and more government.

And, when you have a complaint about long lines or bad service in the government-regulated industries, who will you call?

Do we really want to expand government bureaucracy to more areas of our lives and work? Imagine if the government took over the airlines. Most of the inconveniences of commercial travel can be traced to government-mandated security regulations. But if government gets even more involved in regulating air travel, you may find that airline check-in begins to resemble the lines and services of the Department of Motor Vehicles in most states.

The truth is, we forget just how bad government customer service can often be, because, in reality, it’s not a service, it’s required.We don’t file a tax return because we really want to, or sit in line to have our car inspected because we really think it will make our car run better; we do it because it’s the law.

It seems frustrating and fruitless to just shake our fist at inconvenient lines, poor service or outrageous salaries. But, the truth is, if we shake our fist enough at the men and women who run these private businesses, they will respond, or another business which is more customer service oriented will spring up in place of the offender.

What drives change in the private sector is competition and the government has no competitor. So, yes, change is coming, all right. One small regulation at a time.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 27, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/022707.pdf?ref=smdp.com)