The Evil Of Employment Law

I recently attended a conference discussing the miasma of state and federal laws dictating how businesses may hire, employ, and fire people. The conclusion I drew was that I will never hire anyone, not only because doing so creates massive headaches and potentially ruinous liability, but also because of principle (that quaint concept).

In a "free" society the employment relationship is a private matter between consenting adults and can be smoothly governed by time-tested legal doctrines of contracts, torts, and property. There is no justification for government to become involved in this private relationship unless and until a dispute emerges that requires the application of these legal doctrines. Absent such a dispute, free people may set whatever terms of employment they wish; they may hire and fire for any reason they wish; and they may refuse service to third parties for any reason they wish.

But here's the rub: to be capable of individual freedom, people must also be capable of individual responsibility, and this is where Americans today are cowardly and deficient. Because they abhor responsibility, Americans prefer government at all levels to monitor and regulate the employment relationship rather than negotiate its terms for themselves. This preference is strong enough to have obliterated the clear limitations on federal power in the Constitution. As a result, Americans now have the intrusive government they deserve and are saddled with abominations such as the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Civil Rights Act, the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Affordable Care Act, a host of regulations never voted on by Congress, and endless lawsuits that destroy businesses and drag down the economy.

There always have been weak souls who prefer external control to freedom and responsibility. In fact, most of humanity may be characterized this way. But America was founded by exceptional people with a serious sense of purpose and self-restraint, and the disappearance of their mettle from the national stock is directly proportional to modern government's obscene and pervasive controls over the nation's life.