Tesla Motors, the Big Three and Subsidiarity

New Jersey recently denied Tesla Motors the ability to sell its cars directly to its residents. Tim Worstall at Pando Daily quotes the NYT:

But most states have some limits on direct sales by auto manufacturers, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association. These rules are generally meant to ensure competition, so that buyers can shop around for discounts from independent dealers, and to protect car dealers and franchises from being undercut by the automakers.

Worstall comments:

[T]hese regulations are simply the exertion of political power in order to gain cash (aka, screw the consumer) for those wielding the political power. There is no other justification or cause here. 

For those who might wonder about the future of the car dealers if the manufacturers are allowed to bypass them, the correct answer is “so fucking what?”

The manufacturer-to-dealer model is an old one. When the Big Three became behemoths, it wasn't cost effective to manage thousands of salesmen and local inventories. Better to franchise it out and let the local guys handle it.

It's a better model, generally speaking. Centralization is to human organization like entropy is to energy--the natural tendency. And, just as heat death is not a happy conclusion, a completely centralized organization is ultimately a mistake.

I might as well continue the metaphor. Mankind--and the proverbial Life, Itself--is an anti-entropic force. Humans, trees, microbes don't let things fall apart; they put things together. If anyone is wondering what position to take on the forces of universe, let me say this:  Our team opposes the forces of the universe.

This is the principle to take when looking at human organizations (speaking secularly):  What forces occur naturally should be generally opposed. On the right, bureaucracy is a known evil. Bureaucracy grows without legislation or dictate--the default position should always be against growth of bureaucracy. We should be thinking of it like ornamental shrubbery; without constant pruning it will grow beyond its intended use.

Likewise, we should always resist centralization. The weaknesses of centralization is a subject for another time. If power tends towards the center on its own, then our efforts should be toward dispelling it.

So, am I saying that the Big Three's manufacturer-to-dealership model is right and Tesla is wrong? Not the way things are set up today. Clearly, the laws are in place to protect the status quo, the status quo being that only the Big Three can sell cars nationwide.

The laws force upstart manufacturers to either partner with the Big Three for distribution or invest capital in developing a dealership system of their own. They've created a barrier against going to market, a barrier only the largest companies can overcome. That's oligopoly.