re: #77 GeneJockey

This is a key consideration. Government in a republic is the collective conscious will of the citizens. The Market is the result of all their choices, thinking and unthinking, informed and uninformed. It is subject to manipulation via disinformation, misinformation, and simple lack of information. Empirical observation - or even a little logical thought! - debunks the belief that The Market does what Libertarians think.

When radioactivity was first discovered and before it was known how dangerous it was, radio-isotopes were included in patent medicines. E.g., Radithor which consisted of triple distilled water containing at a minimum 1 microcurie (37 kBq) each of the radium 226 and 228 isotopes.

This lethal nonsense came to an end in the US via a strengthening of the FDA’s powers.

I fail to see how this and worse would not come back in Libertopia. There will always be a market for woo and quackery, and there is much to be said for making this relatively harmless by government action.