I believe the crux of this debate will hinge on the assumption that humans are selfish by nature. I also agree with this statement, but find your assertion that the government is somehow above such selfishness incongruent with reality. The government is made of human beings. Not just any ordinary human beings, mind you, but the most untrustworthy, universally derided human beings the United States has to offer. Almost
no one agrees with what government does, yet you trust them to micromanage our economy? The house and senate are currently locked in battle over a plan to fund the Dept of Homeland Security and since both are controlled by the conservative party, this reeks of criminal indifference to the plight of ordinary citizens. They don't care what happens to the American people, they are only concerned with party politics and keeping their position in government. How can you trust these people to regulate anything, let alone businesses they know nothing about?
The only thing government intervention does to the economy is stamp out competition for the giant corporations. Big companies can lobby for decreased regulations and get whatever they want because they have politicians bought and paid for. The people in charge of deciding the energy policies for the United States are doing so with millions of dollars of big oil's money in their pockets. And what happens when a small business starts to take money away from giant corporations? Big business executives use their contacts in the government to stamp out any competition. Small businesses can't afford to compete with legal teams giant corporations are able to throw at them. Government regulation amounts to big business using the court system as their personal attack dog to go after their competition.
But what if these regulations were not in place? Small businesses are responsible for creating over two-thirds of new jobs every year and are the backbone of the US economy. However, small businesses face challenges such as unjustified compliance fees and increasing costs of regulatory activities
http://www.sensibleregulations.org/resources/facts-and-figures/. Over-regulation is cited as the
top impediment for conducting business and almost 60% of small business owners say now is a
bad time to start a new business. Worse yet, the economies of other countries such as China and India are
more lax in their regulations and are more likely to attract entrepreneurs than the United States. The United States is over-regulated compared to other countries and these regulations are preventing more businesses from getting off the ground.
In short, the regulations of government are harmful to small business owners and only serve to increase the stranglehold large corporations have on the market. The government is untrustworthy and is not up to the task of regulation. Therefore, government regulation only serves to hurt the American economy and prevent the creation of new businesses and jobs.