By DAVE HAMRICK
Editor-at-large

Here's a glimmer of insight into a way of thinking that is becoming more and more commonplace in this country.

I was watching actor Christopher Reeve explain to a reporter why he is lobbying heavily for legalization of research into using human fetal tissue to help repair spinal cord injuries like the one that paralyzed him.

At some point, the reporter asked Reeve why he wants the government to fund the research rather than letting private companies do it.

“Then you would have profiteering, secrecy and all kinds of unregulated behavior going on.” That's a rough paraphrase, but one phrase is exact: “unregulated behavior.”

“Horrors!” I thought.

Mr. Reeve's point seems to be that we can't have people running around doing what they want to do, working in their own best interests, taking their own risks and reaping their own rewards. People's behavior must be regulated.

Doesn't that just send a chill running up and down your spine? (no pun intended)

This kind of thinking is eating at the very foundation on which our nation was founded. Without unregulated behavior, we would never have become the most successful nation in the history of the world.

Of course, Reeve was referring to unregulated business behavior. As an observer of the political scene, it seems to me that liberals/Democrats generally are in favor of removing all regulations on personal behavior — legalizing drugs, gambling, prostitution, etc. — but tightening the screws on people's behavior as it relates to making a living.

Republicans/conservatives, on the other hand, tend to hold just the opposite view. Do away with regulations that relate to the business world, but keep all the blue laws in effect.

Libertarians (notice the party and the philosophy have the same name), on the third hand, believe the government should have one function: protecting our rights to life and property from anyone who might threaten us from within the country or from without.

Otherwise, they think people should be in charge of their own behavior, both personal and corporate.

Yes, there are Republicans who hold this same philosophy, but they don't dare say so because the so-called religious right is such a large voting block in the party. And there are Democrats who agree as well, but they're held in check by the factions within the party that believe the only way to improve life for the poor is to take control of everyone's income and distribute it evenly.

Most of us don't fit neatly into any of the three ways of thinking, or the parties either. We can see how there might be a need to rein in some personal behavior in favor of a safer world for all of us, and we can be talked into accepting regulations on commerce if there is a good enough reason, but we generally think the government is way too big and puts its finger into far too many pies.

We listen to the candidates and try to pick the one least likely to foul things up too much.

But the central idea of our republic — the idea that people should be free to start a business and make a profit — seems to me to be in trouble.

People say outlandish things like “We can't have unregulated behavior” in regard to a research project, and nobody even bats an eye.

Frankly, I'm a little worried.

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