Yes and no. The protocol is opinionated: whether to keep, alter or remove OP_RETURN, the segwit discount, and so on alter the conditions of the “free market”, i.e. the playing field that the protocol enables. Even the block size limit is opinionated. For example, with an unlimited OP_RETURN, it would be cheaper to make an inscription using it, because you wouldn’t have to split it among several transactions.