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FULLSERVICE A matter of perspective cies. I have a number of good friends who are pretty strongly progressive. Needless to say, and especially with social media like Facebook, there can be some spirited discussions on the issues that are in the news today. This is not a Democrat vs. Republican thing, as I am neither and their perspec- tive would tend to be, if anything, to the far left of your typical Democrat or Independent. What is striking in our differences is their basic attitude that the govern- M ment should be at the core of American society, that virtually all regulation is good and that there is somehow a gross unfairness in American society. My perspective on these issues is quite the opposite, and I believe I come by it honestly through different life experiences. We come from similar middle class, suburban backgrounds, but it helps that I was per- haps a bit more on "the other side of the tracks." I have a weak view of the "social justice" argument because I watched my divorced single-parent mother, the daughter of a West Virginia coal miner, work herself up from the bottom as a medical records clerk to a solid six-figure salary as the COO of a medical clinic doing nearly $100 million in business through hard work, raw talent and measurable success well beyond industry norms in a range of areas. Nobody gave her anything—she earned it one 70-hour week at a time. The same broadly applies to most of you reading this piece. Where big government and regulation are concerned (one in the same, actually), it helps to be a history nerd, which most people are not. You could start with the failure of the former Soviet Union and the understanding that it's not simply a case of the Russians not being smart enough to make it work. The system just has too many disincentives in place to generate the type of produc- tivity required for success. And, in areas like the economy, there is not a small group of people anywhere who are "smart enough." Only a free market can work though the millions of possible interactions to settle on an efficient and productive outcome. Unfortunately, the United States has not had a truly free market for many decades now. Maybe that will change in coming years. Observationally, having served in the military, one of the most efficient entities in government, you can still see plenty of waste and inefficiency, which is inevitable. I have also been fortunate to have been covering and supporting small business in two fairly similar industries for the last 20 years of my career. I have observed terribly flawed regulation from a range of agencies passed in an almost flippant manner by bureaucrats with no real skin of their own in the game. Policy decisions that are largely esoteric to most people have a face for me. I sit in industry discussions where there is no spin or talking points. "I'll need to cut staff." "We'll have to cut benefits." "I'll be moving our operations out of that state." I just wish some of my friends, and much of the country for that matter, could sit in on some of these meetings as well instead of just read- ing a blog post or two or listening to their favorite talking heads spinning the party line. n Keith Reid EDITOR-IN-CHIEF kreid@m2media360.com 4 SEPTEMBER 2011 NPN Magazine n www.npnweb.com Y PERSPECTIVE ON THE SIZE OF GOVERNMENT AND ON REGULATION IS QUITE different from that of many of my friends. I tend to be a small government type with some pretty strong libertarian tenden- THE SOURCE FOR PETROLEUM AND CONVENIENCE MARKETERS EDITORIAL OFFICE 1030 W. 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