Really, councilwoman?

photo Pam Ladd

Said openly and apparently not sarcastically by Chattanooga City Councilwoman Pam Ladd about a proposed 190-acre retail and residential development in Hixson, not far from Northgate Mall: "We don't want them competing with each other. We want Northgate to be highly successful ... We don't want to give them competition."

Try to get your mind around that last bit: "We don't want to give them competition."

Now try to grasp the fact that this was stated in a nation that became the greatest country in the world largely on the strength of free-market economics and competition.

That an elected member of the City Council in Chattanooga, Tenn., would say such a thing is mind boggling.

It is, of course, much to be hoped that Northgate is successful. That is not the issue.

Nor does anyone need to apologize for asking probing questions about what effects the project -- which at this point appears to be on hold -- might have on the quality of life, for better or worse, in Hixson.

That is all fair game.

But government is not supposed to be some kind of protection racket. Presumably, Volkswagen's successful operation in Chattanooga is cutting into General Motors' and Chrysler's and Ford's market shares. But we'd be in a bind if the federal government had barred VW from building factories in the United States to protect the Big Three from a rival.

Likewise, if the development in Hixson is to be rejected, it most assuredly should not be because it would create competition for Northgate's customer base. Shoppers can vote with their feet and their dollars. They do not need government officials declaring how much competition is too much.

There is just no getting around it: At least that portion of Ladd's objection is shockingly contrary to the principles that built America -- and deserves vigorous condemnation.

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