Confusing "free enterprise" statement

Confusing "free enterprise" statement

Posted Mar 13, 2008 17:29 UTC (Thu) by martinfick (subscriber, #4455)
Parent article: Some topics related to MP3 players

I am a little confused about this statement in the article:

The police duly cleared the booth of all mention of the offending device and saved another day for free enterprise.

I am not sure if I understand what it is even supposed to mean? Surely you couldn't be suggesting that government authorities shutting down this booth (free enterprise) is somehow helping free enterprise? Or perhaps did you mean to word this statement like this? "The police duly cleared the booth of all mention of the offending device and saved free enterprise another day for." ...as in: "we put off free enterprise for another day." Because certainly shutting down a booth is hardly a reflection of free enterprise, is it? Perhaps an example of an overreaching protectionist government, but not free enterprise.

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I believe the intent is ironic, a play on the tendency of all too many politicians to equate
free enterprise with whatever kind of intellectual monopoly is being pushed at the moment.

Read it as a statement dripping in sarcasm, since that was the tone with which it was written.