The power of the free market to create wealth seems to be rivaled only by the power of government regulation to stifle it.

In the words of President Ronald Reagan, “Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefiting from their success – only then can societies remain economically alive, dynamic, prosperous, progressive, and free.”

The role of the government is to ensure that the free market is operating successfully and to offer limited public goods that enable the free market to be efficient such as roads, bridges, a social safety net that offers a hand up and not a handout, and protection against the infringement of our rights.

To become a more free state, Alabama should:

1. Establish occupational licensure reciprocity, recognizing the hard-earned licenses of practitioners coming from other states to work in Alabama.
2. Eliminate unnecessary occupational licensing. If Alabama licenses an occupation that any other state does not, Alabama should eliminate the licensure in exchange for voluntary certification or approval by a private organization within the industry.
3. Eliminate the antiquated Certificate of Need process by which healthcare providers have to ask their competition if they can build or increase capacity.