> they never think to ask “why does regulation x exist?”

They do, but they think the answer is always some riff on, "government overreach because bureaucrats need to justify their jobs."

That attitude has been firmly ingrained into (at least) a generation of people.

TBF, a solid 50% of regulation is probably government overreach. The problem is that it's intrinsically tangled with the other 50% (crossing various specializations/laws/departments) that isn't; you can't undo one without undoing both.