Nothing is more powerful, it seems, than an idea whose time has passed—if the idea is that of federal regulation.
Evidence of regulatory failure looms up before us like the wreck of Ozymandias, colossal in its bulk and lugubrious in its desolation. Yet the urge to regulate persists, driven by the psychic need of congressmen and bureaucrats to correct the failings of previous interventions by adopting new ones. Protected interests and ideological commitments are too immense, apparently, to admit of any sudden changes.
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