Question:

If business is not regulated, wouldn’t the environment be destroyed?

Answer:

Our greatest polluter is the US Military, not corporate America. Putting government in charge of protecting the environment is like asking the fox to guard the hen house. The most polluted countries in the world are those where government has total control of the environment, such as Eastern Europe. Government is just as dangerous to our environment as it is to the wealth of our nation — it is the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing.

If your neighbor dumps garbage on your lawn, he or she should clean it up and compensate you for any damages. Similarly, if a business or government agency causes harm, they should make it right again. Today, restitution rarely happens. Businesses pay fines to the government, not to the victim; government polluters simply claim sovereign immunity and walk away. Regulation isn’t working — we need to replace it with *restitution.*

Government’s duty is to protect our persons and our property from those who would harm us. Regulation is an attempt to prevent harm, but it’s extremely costly. Although most businesses must obey the regulations, government agencies do not, making regulation inefficient. If government focused on making ALL polluters right their wrongs, businesses, individuals, and public officials would make cost-effective behavioral changes. We’d get more environmental protection for less!

Extra tip: One of the functions of a limited government is to protect property rights via *restitution.* Regulation does more harm than good by shifting resources away from victims and towards policing. Arguing that restitution, as both a preventive and curative, should be substituted for regulation is generally more reassuring to people than saying that government has no role — and is accurate from a libertarian standpoint of government limited to protection of people and property.