To the Editor:
The cab drivers who seek protection from the government against Uber and other ride-sharing companies have this all wrong.
Cab drivers who are dissatisfied with their work hours or earnings are free to either remain cab drivers or to seek another way to earn money. If they don’t like the regulations they have to deal with or the fact that there are “too many cab drivers at National Airport” to make enough money, then they are free to use their gifts and talents to seek other ways to live productive lives. They are free, for example, to drive for Uber or any other ride sharing company and they should be free to offer such services on their own.
Society benefits most when there is free and open market and when the choices of who to engage in commerce with and on what terms are broad. If a consumer wants to call even a wholly unregulated Uber car, then so be it, it is not the proper role of government to say “you can’t do that.” Someone needing to get from point A to point B should be free to use their own minds to decide which is the better option for them.
It is up to the taxicab industry to convince consumers that a taxi is a better option rather than to seek the heavy hand of government to quash innovation, competition, and entrepreneurship.
Benjamin W. Glass, III
Fairfax Station