Jim Huston: Government regulations

Intent of the Founders.
“Sometimes you’re the windshield. Sometimes you’re the bug.” So goes the Mary Chapin Carpenter song “The Bug.” So it is with government. You’re either the regulator or the regulated.

The founders of this country were activists. They had a unique relationship with the government that they formed. They got together and created a unique nation in an unprecedented manner. Prior to the United States of America, no other state was ever formed by an individual or group who first drew up a constitution by which it would be ruled and regulated. They established rules for both the regulators and the regulated. This was unprecedented.

It seems fair to say that the founders desired for the citizenry to take an active part in the government. Individual members of the state were encouraged to participate in the “rough and tumble” debate of ideas in the public square. They were not to be subservient “subjects.” They were to be active “citizens.” There’s a big difference. Subjects were what they were under the king. Citizens were what they were to become under the Constitution.

Have we gone astray? Thomas Paine is credited with saying, “Government is best which governs least.” There are those who believe that we, as a nation, have forgotten our roots. Government and its regulations, they say, are ubiquitous – creeping into and regulating every part of our lives and businesses. And they say it’s getting worse.
They have a point. The National Labor Relations Board won’t permit Boeing to move portions of its production to South Carolina. The EPA’s environmental regulations are often excessive and lacking in common sense.

For example, in the early 1990s, homeowners in Southern California were not permitted to remove flammable dead brush around their homes due to its being habitat for the endangered kangaroo rat. Many homeowners ignored the regulation and removed the hazardous material. In October of 1993, a wildfire swept through Laguna Canyon near Laguna Beach destroying hundreds of homes. Many of the homeowners who ignored the regulation and removed the hazardous brush saved their homes. Unfortunately, many of those who obeyed the irrational regulation not only lost their homes in the inferno that was in no small part fueled by the brush, they also lost the kangaroo rats living therein.

Many argue that as government grows, it’s becoming more partisan and ineffective. Immigration reform is essential for American small businesses but politicians use it as a political football to score points with voters. Effective immigration reform probably won’t happen for years. The financial regulations, or lack thereof, of the last 30 years created the recent financial-system meltdown. Small businesses took the brunt of this unnecessary economic disaster, while government gave Fortune 500 companies bailouts, loans and unprecedented assistance.

The list goes on and on – regulations abound regarding: water, credit, car standards, OSHA, new construction, etc. Have you tried to get an SBA loan lately? Not that regulations are all bad, they just seem excessive and ineffective to boot.

Get involved. Modern life is dynamic and often crazy. Government is simply the agency by which men and women come together to enact public policy so that we can all live together as harmoniously as possible, given all the tumult, change and chaos of it all.

Governmental regulations affect the green industry perhaps more than any other. Issues concerning such topics as: immigration, water usage, the environment, contractor licensing, safety, finance, credit, insurances, ad infinitum appear endless.

Our system of government not only encourages us to get involved in the process of governing, it requires it. Due to the complexity of modern life, no elite body of bureaucrats can effectively run things from the top down. Top-down management doesn’t work. Grassroots, bottom-up input is what is needed if regulations are to be effective and realistic. You may disagree with it, but the Tea Party did not even exist four years ago. Today this bottom-up organization is having a huge impact on the very direction of our government.

There are two types of citizens: Those who regulate and those who are regulated. The choice is yours. Get involved. Start with your local community and associations. Make a difference. If you don’t like being the one who is always regulated, become a regulator. Bugs have no choice in their destiny. You do. Take advantage of it.

Jim Huston runs J.R. Huston Consulting, a green industry consulting firm. See www.
rhuston.biz; mail jhuston@giemedia.com.