I was pretty surprised when I read this article. The Department of Labor wants to ban individuals from trading options in their IRA accounts. Of course, using options is awesome strategy if you can learn how to use them. They exist to help people manage risk. Futures too. Of course, you might also ask why the Department of Labor is getting involved in setting policy for finance-but that’s a different question.

Volumes and volumes of government policies and bureaucratic edicts were written to protect us from something that “might” happen. It’s one reason that they don’t work. Instead of regulating softly, they regulate absolutely.

Part of living in a free and innovative society is taking risk. When people take risk, shit happens. Sometimes really awesome shit, sometimes bad shit. Yesterday, I heard a story about a guy who was 90 living in poverty. Earlier in his life, he had started a company and made millions and millions of dollars. He sold the company, and plowed the money into something else and lost it all. Shit happens. I hate those stories and feel bad for the old guy but he should be free to take a risk.

Of course, Ray Kroc and Colonel Sanders started their companies after the age of 50. I have seen many entrepreneurs do pretty cool stuff in their 40’s. There is no age limit to when someone might create something that advances society.

Big government doesn’t respect the intelligence of its citizens. That’s why instead of having a la carte medical insurance where I can pick and choose what I want covered I am stuck with a mandate that forces me to buy coverage I don’t need (like autistic children and pregnancy insurance).

When you choose to defy big government, you get the Dustin Hoffman treatment from Marathon Man that I posted in the video. Don’t believe me? Ask farmers who have lost their animals. Ask conservatives in Wisconsin that had their homes attacked in the middle of the night by SWAT teams. Ask the film maker who served as a scapegoat for Benghazi. There are so many laws and regulations on the books that each and every American citizen probably breaks one each day.

Our society doesn’t make great leaps forward without taking risk. Our society doesn’t get statistical outliers like Steve Jobs without the ability to innovate and take risk.

Big government supporters will say, “But I don’t want to hurt people like Steve Jobs. We want that kind of innovation.” The problem is big government creates a climate where it’s much tougher to innovate anywhere.

The huge amount of regulation enables the development of mega-corporations which in turn work with the government to quash competition.

In America, we always embraced the ethic of the cowboy. We romanticized it. Individualistic. Ethical. He always did the right thing and often times put others ahead of himself. Big government hates the cowboy. So do the mega corporations.

People are fond of saying “Freedom isn’t free”. They are usually referring to the sacrifice our military personnel make. But, “Freedom isn’t free” also refers to giving people the freedoms to take risk. Freedom means there will be failure. It means there will be human hurt. Accepting a free society means that we must accept that people won’t all be equal and some of us will screw up and fail.