So I'm sitting here watching Bob Dylan on YouTube, and finding tablature for a few of Guthrie's songs. It got me to thinking: anyone who looked at my playlist and knew my beliefs system would be shocked to see my playlist (RATM, Natalie Merchant and a bunch of others make the playlist). But those who really know me know it's really no surprise at all.

See, when the debate turns to our moral responsibility to help our fellow humans, suddenly I sound like a flaming liberal. We need fair wages, we need safe workplaces, we need for the working man to get his fair share. You'd almost think I was a socialist.

Which is why I was at one time.

But see, a few years in the work force gave me a dose of reality. The federal government may impose standards, but I have found it to be almost universally true that the bad businesses either work around the standards or at best meet the bare minimum, and the good businesses exceed the standard and don't need the legislation.

And the truth is the government will never impose a standard that will cripple industry in the country. We'll always keep our standards just as far as we can to keep businesses from bailing and moving to other countries. Because we have a third world country that borders to the south that would be happy to have a lot of them.

Government regulation is just one more game for the politicians to play, one more ploy to win votes. And in the end, the common man never comes out ahead. Never. The common man only comes out ahead when they take things into their own hand and work to make things better.

We live in the information age, where informed opinion should shape our purchasing decisions. We have the ability to find out what we want about businesses, their ethical practices and their safety standards. All we have to do is use the tools at our disposal. If we fail to use them, it is our loss, really.

I don't need a law to make me care for the poor. I will do so no matter WHAT Washington says on the matter. ANd, honestly, the people who DO need a law are NOT people I want working beside me in the soup kitchen.