I probably should also apologize for getting as snippy with you as you picked up on.

I'm a bit sensitive to these sorts of arguments, and not because I'm deaf to arguments about social justice -- actually the opposite. Most of us on this website were born into incredible privilege that we did nothing to earn. We grew up able to focus on our studies without being distracted by instability in our homes or violence in our communities. We didn't struggle to feed ourselves. Some kids that grow up in poverty acquire mental habits and social patterns that they will never be able to shake completely that identify them as poor and limit their mobility no matter how hard they try (or anyone else tries to help).

This is heavy stuff that all of us who are privileged have to live with. The world is deeply unfair and we're the beneficiaries of it. Nothing we can do can undo all the unfairness. All the money in the world can't buy a magic wand that will turn Africa into Europe. The best we can do is try to be part of the solution and not part of the problem, as much as we reasonably can.

It's because this injustice is so real that I get so cranky when the social justice card is, in my view, played without sufficient foundation. A human's most natural state is to value themselves and the people close to them more highly than everyone else. When you make a social justice argument, the only people who will be impacted by it are the people who have accepted the idea that they have a moral obligation to care more about justice than their own personal well-being. So you are, in essence, cashing in on the blank check they have written to the world promising to value the welfare of other people more highly than their own wants and needs.

This might sound a bit melodramatic for a discussion about a ride-sharing service. But people who like Uber and Lyft really like it. If you confront them and say "your joy dance is deaf to the poor and sick that you're trampling under the soles of your shoes," that is a very serious charge.

So if I see someone say that "the entire point of taxi regulation" is to protect the poor, handicapped, etc. and then I find that the first several articles I find concerning taxi regulation have nothing to do with this (and in fact, some authors argue the opposite, that reduced regulation would benefit the poor), I get a little cranky. Because it, in my view, overstates the connection between this issue and the very real injustices of the world, and makes an unwarranted claim on the moral obligation of people who have decided to value justice above themselves.

> No matter what some people would have you believe, regulations aren't just enacted to entrench power.

I would never argue that they are. Few things in life are just one thing.

And I wouldn't argue that 100% of taxi regulations are automatically bad. Some are probably worth keeping. The handicapped-accessible issue is likely one of them. (I don't know much about the specifics of that regulation, but it certainly doesn't seem to apply to 100% of taxis since I see plenty of Crown Victoria or Prius taxis that are just like what you'd get from UberX.)

But some regulations are clearly obsoleted by the innovations of Uber/Lyft. And I am really opposed to a reactionary stance that says we have to protect the existing taxi industry against Uber/Lyft or the poor and sick will suffer (the implicit assumption being that taxis serve the poor and sick in a way that Uber/Lyft never can).