Mediaboss Marketing

Libertarian Nick Gillespie took to the pages of Time last week to go to bat for the un-taxi taxi service Uber.

And Airbnb, which competes for hotel business, and Tesla, which cuts out the dealership middlemen to sell its $70,000 electric cars directly to the public.

In short, Gillespie wants the government out of the business of regulating business.

"Especially in todays sluggish economy, its more important than ever that market innovators win out over crony capitalists," he writes."Letting markets work to find new ways of delivering goods and services isnt just better for customers in the short term, its the only way to unleash the innovation that ultimately propels long-term economic growth."

The argument is pertinent in Madison, where Uber and its ride-share competitor Lyft are operating under the threat of fines.

"Never mind that Uber riders get to instantly rate their experience in a way no cab passenger ever does (just as amazingly, drivers get to rate passengers!)," Gillespie writes. "At the state level, California has already instituted a bevy of regulations on Uber, Lyft, and other new ride-sharing services. These range from mandatory criminal background checks for drivers, licensing via public utilities commissions, and driver training programs. Last year, Washington, D.C. officials unsuccessfully tried to squeeze out Uber with regulations on the types of cars that could carry passengers, what sorts of credit-card processing machines could be used, and how the companys app operates."

Gillespie doesn't mention complicating factors such as Uber's denial of liability when one of its drivers was sued for killing a 6-year-old girl, or the reasonable assumption that some riders might want their drivers to undergo driver training or criminal background checks.

And cities are worried about what happens if companies like Uber drive local regulated taxi companies out of business. What would prices be like then? Would the new comapnies' "surge pricing" mean the end of affordable taxi service during high-volume times?

Seattle, it turns out, isn't waiting to find out. The City Council there just voted to restrict the number of ride-share cars thatcan be on the road at any given time.

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Libertarian Nick Gillespie: Keep your government hands off my Uber