Regulation Nation

In 1975, there were 71, 225 pages of federal regulations. Today, the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) totals almost 175,000 pages, which is an increase of 145%. Most of these have occurred in the last 4+ years.

While I understand the need to protect Americans from bad circumstances, most of the regulations were written by executive branch agencies in order to circumvent the Congress. This would appear to be somewhat unconstitutional, as the Congress is supposed to write the law, the President is sworn to faithfully execute the law and the Supreme Court interprets the intent of the law against the words of the Constitution.

This action appears to be authoritarian on the part of the President and the executive branch. While I am not accusing this President of any overt wrongdoing, it is the fault of the Congress for abrogating its responsibilities by writing law and then burdening the presidency with trying to enforce the law with no further guidance from the Congress.

Two of the most recent high profile laws that exemplify my point are the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) that were both written to protect Americans with better health care and from banking abuses, respectively. Instead, each law has grown exponentially, that they now require attorneys and lobbyists to understand, due to all the regulatory complexities and issues involved.

I touched on this issue on July 9 with my commentary, Executive Order... or Decree, where I pointed out how the executive branch has become much stronger since the end of WWI, because the Congress with each passing decade had ceded its authority to the presidency. It has now boiled over since 2010, when the Republican House has tried to take back its authority, only by being stopped by a Democrat Senate and President.

In turn, this has resulted in a government in turmoil and nothing getting done because of all the obstructionism on both sides. And who suffers? Only the people.

Two things need to be understood by all parties. The federal government was created by the states, not the other way around, and the the government exists by the consent of the governed, not that the governed exists due to the benevolence of the the government.

So, it is time to take back our country from the bureaucrats, lobbyists and authoritarians. This is a constitutional country, with certain inalienable rights. It is not a regulation nation.

As President Lincoln said, this is a nation "of the people, for the people, and by the people", not the regulators and bureaucrats. Let's make it so, again.