de Tocqueville and Driving Schools

I read in the NY Times today and interesting piece about the excess regulation in France. They state:

Partly because they are young business school graduates and partly because getting a driver’s license here is so difficult and expensive that it has inspired books on the subject, Mr. Chartier and Mr. Gaignault have become minor celebrities. Various experts say their struggle highlights how the myriad rules governing driving schools — and 36 other highly regulated professions — stifle competition and inflate prices in France.

One need read no farther than de Tocqueville's "Ancient Regime" to see that this is not only new but as he notes was a primary cause of the French Revolution. Paris controlled everything, from the size of milk bottles to the size of sewer caps.  People just got fed up.

I suggest that anyone who wants to understand where we seem to be going in the US today read just one page of The Ancien Régime and the French Revolution and then think how it applies to what we are seeing today with the heavy hand of a centralized Government. Then look at France and see how absurd it can become!