I was always under the impression from people here on HN that regulation stifles the free market, one of the pillars of the US. This in turn negatively affects innovation, impacting jobs and sectors across the country.
The "free market" is a corruption of the phrase "freely competitive market" coined by Adam Smith. He was quite clear about the need for legal control to keep markets competitive for them to function.
I can't speak for HN, but I'm of the view that some reasonable degree of regulation is necessary for a properly functioning market. Imagine if everyone engaged in drip pricing [1]. It'd be less of a market that competed on pricing and quality of product/service, and more of a market of who can trick the buyer most effectively.
Systems without regulations ends either with monopoly or towards entropy. To keep system balanced, regulations need to adapt in time. Contrary to this, it is not uncommon in US to think that Constitution is set in stone and regulations are bad.
Is this no longer the case?