Regulations
When you think about regulations, the many different rules and policies that the government has put in place probably pop into your head. Regardless of who you may be, regulations have an impact in your life. Whether this impact is direct, like a ban on your line of work or whether it simply impacts the amount of choices you have because a product you used to purchase is no more, every day we have to live with regulation. But why does there seem to be so much of it?
The Entrepreneur
In general, the role of the entrepreneur is to create value for the consumer. By allowing entrepreneurs to create value, society is better off. Society then can fund the ideas of the entrepreneur, and a lovely little cycle is born. However, at some point in the past the government was brought in. The arrival of government in our little system has led to a governing body that ultimately gets to decide what is allowed and what is not allowed. While this can protect society from potential danger, it can also put a serious damper on the lovely little system of the entrepreneur and society that we have established. When the government decides to step in and regulate, there is bound to be a response by both society and the entrepreneur.
The Black Market
The first problem with regulation is that of the will of the public. When people like something, they rarely want to give it up. Especially when it is useful or lucrative. For example, take the Dallas Buyers Club. While recently watching the 2013 film that shares the same name, it is obvious that there is a problem with the regulation that was put in place.
When AIDS afflicted Ron Woodroof finds a drug that helps but isn't approved by the FDA, he finds a great untapped market by selling this drug illegally. I think this is interesting because depending on your views and morals, you could see his as perfectly okay. He is providing a good that makes peoples lives better. And why would this be illegal at all? On the other hand, he is doing something that is not legal. Regardless of those morals you have, we can see that when there becomes a strong enough demand, someone will fill the supply. Regulation can not stop everyone, especially when they are motivated.
Society and Regulations
One of the problems that government has with enforcing regulations is the will of their constituents. Elected officials are elected, which means that if they don't please the public they will be removed by someone who does. Due to this, many times regulations do not get enforced because those in power would like to stay in power. They may choose to look the other way instead of enforcing unpopular regulation. Once this begins happening, society starts to bully the policymakers into doing whatever they want.
What regulation Means For Us
In our day we can see many of the same aspects that take place in the film "Dallas Buyers Club". Like the movie, sometimes people ignore regulation. The interaction between regulation and daily life becomes a strain. However, the important takeaway is that regulation isn't going anywhere. We will probably always have it as long as there are people in power or something that could be potentially harmful. But despite this, society has some control over regulation, just like Ron Woodroof shows us. No matter what regulation is in our lives, we always have the power as a society to make our voices known. This does not mean that I advocate illegal or illicit activities, but simply that when we work as a unit, regulations are something that should benefit us all instead of making life harder on everyone.