There's another saying I'm sure you've heard of -- "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."  That is precisely why government has no business whatsoever competing in a free market.  Yes, we all deal with competition that "isn't fair", but consider this: how many of your competitors have the power to levy fines against you, threaten you with imprisonment to gain your compliance and to exempt themselves from the rules that you and the rest of us have to follow?

As far as the Republican proposals, there's only so much you can do when the other team has the ball, but their efforts do put the lie to the rhetoric that the GOP isn't offering any alternatives.

Regards,
Scott Perry