Interesting discussion. There’s a book by Harvey Silvergate entitled “Three Felonies a Day” that deals with this very topic. I haven’t got around to reading it but according to the author:

The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague.

Every other word in American history and literature is freedom or liberty. Candidates toss it around lightly, but many people seem to have forgotten what it actually means as it becomes suffused in fear, envy and busybody government.

Voluntary activities engaged in by peaceful adult citizens should not be criminalized in a “free country”. But as you write, this is not what we’re currently living under.

I fear the answer to your question is: The laws, regulations, and rules are far too numerous and vague and contradictory to count. Last year, the Heritage Foundation published a paper:

Regulatory page counts. One of the most commonly used yardsticks of regulatory activity is the size of the daily Federal Register, which reports regulatory changes. Before any new federal rule can be finalized, the agency proposing the rule must have it published in the register. In 2008, the Federal Register hit a record 79,435 pages for the year.[6] In 2009, the number dropped to 68,598. Such a decrease is not unusual in presidential transition years.

The size of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) provides a second yardstick of regulatory activity. Unlike the Federal Register, which is a catalog of regulatory changes, the CFR is a compendium of all existing regulations. In 2008, the CFR weighed in at 157,974 pages, having increased by 16,693 pages since the start of the George W. Bush Administration.[7] In 2009, the page count hit a record high of 163,333.

This, of course, reminds me of another Rand quote:

”Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?” said Dr. Ferris. “We want them broken. You’d better get it straight that it’s not a bunch of boy scouts you’re up against—then you’ll know that this is not the age for beautiful gestures. We’re after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you’d better get wise to it. There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted—and you create a nation of law-breakers—and then you cash in on guilt. Now that’s the system, Mr. Rearden, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.”

I just wonder if anyone has combed federal law and regulatory rules for things that limit our choices.

An example is a rule on TV set manufacture. It is impossible to make, and therefore impossible to buy, a TV that receives only your favorite channels.

- Ayn Rand