Economic freedom is always elegantly simple compared to any form of statism

Austin Hill's Townhall column today takes a look at the recent rise of freelance service providers such as Uber.com and TaskRabbit.com.  He makes a series of points about them that build one upon the previous one:  1.) They're independent contractors, which makes labor unions' attempts to subsume them ring hollow.  2.) Established big-company providers of those services are understandably none too happy about this encroachment on their markets.  3.) If we really respect individual rights in this country, we can't advocate a solution that merely puts this new breed of freelancers out of business.

I'll excerpt point number four in full:

Resolving the disparities between established industries and freelance services providers will require less government regulation, not more: In New York City - another region where President Obama's vision of politicians determining economic winners and losers remains quite popular - Mayor Bill DeBlasio has determined that individuals who rent-out a room in their house or apartment are violating city law, and has vowed to run AirBnB.Com out of the city.

On the other hand, in Spokane, Washington - a city where American free enterprise is still generally accepted - the city just crafted new transportation industry regulations that both the taxi cab industry and Uber.Com seem to like. Despite city council members' threats to run Uber.Com out of their city, the voices of freelancers managed to be heard and the result was a compromise that subjects Uber.Com and its service providers to some new, minimal levels of government regulations, while reducing the heavy-handed burdens the city has historically placed upon traditional taxi operators.

Will the USA move to respect and uphold the rights of freelance service providers? Or will we continue to embrace the Obama-styled protections and privileges for large corporations and old-school traditional groups? Americans have an important choice to make - and the economic wellbeing of individuals is weighing in the balance.

The whole phenomenon reminds me of the emergence in South America in the 1980s of micro businesses.  Peruvian economist Hernando DeSoto depicted it in very visceral, human terms in his book The Other Path.    He said that an informal economy in which people got busy providing services directly to those who wanted them, unburdened by bureaucracy, regulation and taxation, offered a constructive alternative response to poverty to the revolutionary rage of groups like the Shining Path.

Even though statists, even the well-known ones who get lots of media exposure, are indeed faceless bureaucrats devoid of any real animation, their motivations for wanting to squelch this kind of enterprise are really personal.  They are typically the kind of people who don't have much private-sector experience, and never really gave any thought to the very basic question of what flesh-and-blood individuals might need or want for the enhancement of their lives, and how they might profitably provide it.

Economic liberty brings up a statist's stuff. He or she has to get real, has to take a look at the fact that his or her professional life has been based on a drive to boss other people around and subject them to suffocating and mind-numbing mountains of red tape.

And what a joyless existence that is.  The only momentum there is to get excited about is an increase in state intrusiveness.

To the world's collectivists, I say, give it up.  Have some fun.  Make some money.  And leave other, successful people alone.  The greatest cure for envy is to do something cool with your life.