John Stossel, a leading consumer reporter, said a smaller government and fewer regulations would help more people than current laws designed to protect them.

Stossel, best known for his segments on the ABC News program 20/20, argued that markets keep consumers safer than additional governmental regulations.

One example he used was drug crime. Laws prohibiting the sale of drugs cause crime, but not the drugs themselves, he said. Also, laws are not keeping illegal drugs out of the country.

"Isn't allowing us the choice [to consume illegal drugs] what America is about? Patrick Henry didn't say give me absolute safety or give me death. What about liberty?" he asked.

Freedom will protect ignorant people from bad company practices too, Stossel said.

"Not everyone has to be an expert [in an industry], you just have to have a few [experts]," he said, because information is spread by word-of-mouth.

Stossel was not against all government, however. "We do need government around to protect from us foreign threats and terrorism," he said.

He criticized the media, saying "bad reporting" makes people afraid. He said Americans accept coal and gas as energy sources, but they are terrified about innovative sources of energy because they are newer -- even if they might be safer.

"Why do we in a free country meekly sit back and let government decide for us? If [the media] run around scaring people about every ant, then they won't know when it's an elephant," Stossel said.

Ben Hillbery (sophomore-advertising and psychology) said he attended the speech because Penn State is a liberal campus and it is rare to hear conservative, Republican views.

Some students, like Steven Kozel (freshman-computer engineering) said he heard about the speech from signs around campus.

"I wanted to see John Stossel. He's good on 20/20 and he should be good in person," Kozel said.