Sunday, June 19, 2016

The problem with government regulation

I know this will be hard for some people to swallow, but the problem is not the existence of the institution of government or the existence of government, esp. federal, regulation.  The problem is the people who are passing the laws and administering the relevant agencies.  It's easy for people to throw up their hands and throw the baby out with the bath water.  Change takes informed voters, legislative changes, etc.  Too many people are too busy worry about fixing things.  The easy, lazy stupid solution is to just eliminate it all.

Never forget, however, regulation must conform to constitutional rights and basic principles of human dignity.  None of these rights are, however, absolute.

Obviously, what we need are honest, ethical, intelligent leadership that is devoted to the Constitution and the public interest.  Why don't we have that kind of leadership?   There are lots of answers, but with regard to today's public, part of the problems is that too many people can't get their heads out of their smartphones and read newspapers.  Reading newspapers alerts people to corruption, pending bills, scandals, etc.  Too many folks, even before there was the internet, were stuck in their echo chamber. 

Success depends upon an informed and motivated electorate.  We seem to lack both in this country.  Too many politicians are controlled by ideology and/or special interests.  Special interests don't want regulation.  It gets in their way of damaging the environment, ripping off an endangering the consumer, etc.
Getting stuck in a left- or right-wing echo chamber is a problem that also effects politicians.


Here's an example of a politician who appears to be obsessed with giving special interests a black check.  "Full speed ahead, damn the public and their interests." http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/opinion/sunday/mr-ryans-plan-to-revert-regress-and-deregulate.html

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