Letters for families based on the book “It Can Be Done” @studentsleadusa
When it comes to regulation, people generally find common ground with the idea that government should provide rules to protect the safety of citizens. For example, businesses should not sell products that harm people, nor should businesses lie to customers. Of course, America’s business regulation extends way beyond the basics.
Special laws now require most employers to pay minimum wages, maintain government safety standards, pay minimum benefits, and to grant employee leaves of absence from work. Our governments also have laws and regulations involving pollution, transportation, business stock trading, toilet water flow, light bulbs, and much, much more.
New regulations, each of which sound like good ideas, build up and become more complex.
States and local governments haven’t stayed on the sidelines when it comes to regulation. They often have regulations that cover the same subject matter as the federal government, but which differ from federal guidelines. This results in multiple sets of similar, but different, sets of regulations with which businesses must comply. Larger government advocates think even more special laws and regulations on business will help more people.
Frost Brown Todd LLC Member Rob Hudson is a Past Chair of the Northern Kentucky Chamber and a business lawyer. 2018 Independent Author of the Year Lauren Hudson is a Singletary Scholar at the University of Kentucky. Their next letter will explore common ground about opposing unreasonable regulation. Regardless of where you stand on the rules and regulations debate, there’s no denying our country now has a staggering number of rules. The federal government alone spends more than seven million dollars a minute, enforcing more than 180,000 pages of regulations, with more than eight million individuals working as government employees or contractors. This was not always the case.
As reported by George Washington University’s Regulatory Studies Center, back in 1960, federal regulations consisted of fewer than 23,000 pages. By 1975, federal regulations grew to more than 70,000 pages. By 2016, regulations more than doubled. No one person or even a group of people can read and comprehend all of them. It took more than two centuries for our government to grow this large, one tax, one law, and one regulation at a time.
Smaller government advocates believe regulations can and do go too far at times. President Ronald Reagan, who observed government’s continuous growth, famously joked, “Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it….”
Yes, our government has become large and complex. Our common ground can and should include the fact that our governments have created a maze of regulations that cover most businesses. As our governments become even more complex, our country’s future will depend on how well we understand the government we elect.
