It would be a gross mistake to think of America as a free market. Zoning laws, for example were established to prevent immigrants and other less privileged people from acquiring property in better neighborhoods. There's a reason why rooms in a house have to be of a certain size and why some people can't plant vegetables in their own front yards - it's not for safety and it's not for beauty, it's to maintain an elite.

http://www.asu.edu/courses/aph294/total-readings/silver%20--...