Get Rid of Spam in One Day
By James Quillian, Economist, Political Analyst, Teacher of Natural Law

There’s something folks don’t always understand about government. It can make political decisions — and it does. It can also administer justice — not perfectly, but well enough that most people trust the courts more than they trust Congress. You’ll hear complaints about politicians every day of the week, but you don’t hear many people blaming the legal system for the mess we’re in.

Now let’s talk about spam, bots, and the digital junk that clutters every phone and computer in the country. These things aren’t harmless annoyances. They cost all of us time, money, and peace of mind. Entire industries make fortunes trying to shield the public from spam, bots, and hackers. Meanwhile, the people causing the damage pay nothing at all.

In economics, we have a name for that. When an industry covers its own operating costs but forces the rest of society to pick up the tab for the damage it creates, that’s called a negative externality. And negative externalities don’t fix themselves. They grow, they spread, and they get bolder.

The remedy isn’t complicated. It doesn’t require a thousand‑page law or a new federal agency. It simply requires government to do the job it already has — administer justice.

Passing new laws to outlaw spam would be expensive, slow, and mostly useless. But taxing spam and bots according to volume — charging them for the harm they impose — would stop the problem almost overnight. Right now, the marginal cost of sending spam is zero. Make it cost something, and the flood turns into a trickle.

You don’t need a revolution to fix this. You just need a little courage, a little clarity, and a government willing to enforce the same principle your grandmother taught you: If you make a mess, you clean it up.