The government-owned gas company has begun selling stoves and other gas appliances to create a larger market for its gas. Merchants who sell such products complain that the competition will hurt their businesses. That may well be; however, the government-owned gas company is within its rights. After all, the owner of a private gas company might well decide to sell such appliances and surely there would be nothing wrong with that. Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the reasoning above? ['There is nothing wrong with a government- owned company selling products so long as owners of private companies do not complain.', 'A government should always take seriously the complaints of merchants.', 'Government-owned companies have the right to do whatever private businesses have the right to do.', 'Private businesses have no right to compete with government monopolies.']