This title comes from a program I recorded several weeks ago and just got around to watching tonight. It was John Stossel’s eponymous weekly program on Fox Business channel, and I highly recommend checking it out.
This episode was focused on how too much regulation causes harm to our nation’s entrepreneurial spirit. He showcased the 70,000 pages of government regulations passed in just the past year, and reported on several specific cases where those regulations reduce our freedoms. When our government is making so many decisions for us, our own freedom to choose is threatened, and we should all be wary of sacrificing our liberty for a false sense of security.
Some of the examples he cited verge on the absurd. For example, did you know that is now against the law to have a bake sale fundraiser in the NYC schools? The reason? Obesity, called a problem that, “will dwarf 9-11”, according to a former Surgeon General. Really? Selling cookies to raise money for the school band is akin to an act of terrorism? I think someone has fallen off the reality rails. Given all the problems in the NYC public schools, I would think they have more important issues to spend their tax revenues on solving.
In California, one county has outlawed the action figures fast food restaurants put in their children’s meals, because it unduly tempted the children to eat fast food. I must admit to taking that one personally – my children played with entire collections of happy meal figures when they were young, and I resent the government telling me that makes me an unfit mother.
If this attempt to shield us from our own poor choices was as far as it went, that would be insulting enough. Unfortunately, the reality is much worse. He spoke with one of the authors of a book called One Nation Under Arrest and cited several cases of heavy-handed government interference that made my skin crawl. In one case, an elderly grandmother was actually arrested for allowing her hedges to grow over the 2-foot legal limit. In another, a 12-year-old girl was arrested for eating French fries on a subway, and a businessman was arrested for importing lobster in the wrong package.
Being arrested is scary enough, but then he went on to interview people who had been jailed for breaking a variety of regulations. One man and his wife grew orchids in a small greenhouse in their backyard. It was their hobby, and as a small cottage business they also sold some of these orchids at fairs. They legally imported some of the orchids, but apparently misplaced some of the paperwork. Remember – older couple, growing flowers as a hobby: their home was ransacked by federal officials, and the husband served a year and a half in federal prison, after spending $100,000.00 in legal bills.
Another man tearfully explained his own experience. He was a ‘science geek’, the kid who always won the school science fair. As a young adult, he was tinkering with inventing an efficient fuel cell in his own home. He used something called ‘metallic sodium’, which my scientist husband tells me is quite explosive. He ordered more than he needed, so he sold one pound of this substance online [which, btw, is NOT illegal] The federal enforcers instead charged him with the “environmental crime” of abandoning hazardous materials, even though they were safely and properly stored on his private property. He served 21 months in federal prison. How likely do you think he will be to engage in any more inventive pursuits?
Paraphrasing Mr. Stossel, politicians and government appointees think the laws they pass make our lives better, but there are always unintended consequences. How likely is someone to risk doing something new, if there are too many laws and regulations to understand? Most people will tend to play it safe to avoid breaking the law, and we are all poorer for it.
Right now there are over a million federal employees in this country, not counting military or Postal service. This nation founded on the principles of freedom is becoming a ‘nanny state’. It is time for us to let our elected officials know that we value freedom over the false security of government control.
Think these are manufactured examples that don't happen to "real people in real life"?
ReplyDeleteI work in an industry that is highly regulated. I work with well educated people in the US and around the world, mostly with advanced degrees and who have worked in the industry a number of years. Recently I was working with one team of scientists who were tasked with the responsibility for manufacturing life-saving medicines. This had been their primary responsibility for several years. A change at the site caused a question about regulatory compliance and rather than work through a solution or go to the authorities and ask what was acceptable the decision was made to terminate all production at the site.
Over regulation lead to fear which killed innovation and ambition.