Laws and Responsibility

Back in the day when I served in the state legislature, I often remarked in my speeches that the six most dangerous words in Ohio are “there ought to be a law…” We are over-lawed (new word?). In other words we have too many laws. What we need are accountability and responsibility. If you hurt someone or their property because you were negligent or intentionally destructive, then you should be held accountable. As an example, if you’re texting, drinking or under the influence of prescription drugs and you crash into another car, you should be charged with negligence and failure to maintain control.

Why is it necessary to have traffic laws that ban driving while drinking, driving while texting or any number of potential distractions or performance degraders? If they are necessary, we should include driving while drinking coffee or eating. We might also include shaving or applying makeup as tasks that should be prohibited while one is operating a motor vehicle. There are even more activities that could or should be banned while driving such as reading, talking to a passenger, adjusting the radio or CD player, or picking one’s nose. I have witnessed every one of these distracting behaviors while driving. It isn’t pretty out there, folks.

Obviously as the clever readers you are, you have discerned that I am disturbed by the proliferation of laws that our legislators and regulators have thrust upon us. It is a common practice among despotic or totalitarian governments to pass numerous laws so that nearly every citizen breaks some of them and then selectively enforce them. This bi-polar approach causes the populace to be fretful and fearful but allows the leaders to dole out favorable treatment for friendly elites. For example you may be charged for munching on an Egg McMuffin while pursuing your morning commute, but the police may have strict orders to ignore the Assistant to the Associate Deputy Secretary of Secretarial Assistants when she rabidly consumes a bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats while scampering down the freeway at 20 mph above the legal limit. Lots of laws create a maze of regulatory tape that is impossible to navigate without violating one or more of them…that is “soft tyranny.” The government doesn’t throw you in the clink for no reason, but they do create a multitude of trip wires to legitimize your incarceration.

Paranoia is not a typical condition for me, but the profusion of laws, rules and regulations that impact our behavior, our commerce and our daily lives have caused me to become extremely skeptical about our government’s commitment to individual liberty. For now…if we violate a number of the “gotcha” regulations, we are fined. If enough people systematically fail to follow the proscribed rules, it seems probable that harsher penalties may be employed. There are so many fronts where Big Government is attacking the people that this one may seem trivial, but it can lead to hard tyranny as the government and its big-government supporters and enablers seek to wield control---for our own good….of course.

Too many laws lead to confusion, so why not streamline the criminal code to identify the broad categories of unacceptable activity. The penalties, if any, could be based on outcomes rather than law enforcement personnel seeking to interdict every potential violator. If you drive and you harm someone or their property while negligently distracted, you must pay restitution, fines and jail time if appropriate for the offense and the damage. It shouldn’t matter what activity led to the negligent distraction. It’s the result of the negligence that generates the penalty. As someone who cherishes my liberty, I resent the nitpicking package of laws and regulations that have invaded our lives. As someone who believes strongly in accountability and responsibility as necessary for citizenship, my resistance to the plethora of controlling rules grows greater every day. The Nanny State mentality has drifted from our social welfare policies into law enforcement. It sickens me.

It has been thirty years since I first began uttering the line about “there ought to be a law.” Given the nature of our ineffective, inefficient and dominating government today, those six words may not be the worst…the most evil. They are still noxious and still toxic. We have too many laws. We have too many constraints on our freedom. We must be responsible for our actions, our behavior and our stupidity. When the law becomes too complex, it can become abusive. Liberal progressive socialist busybodies love laws because they narrow the parameters of our liberty. The lefties assume that we are too stupid to live without the benign intervention of the government. They do not yet realize that we may be too angry to live with it.

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Transfering Wealth

The lefties of our nation and the globe as well, insist that “fairness” can only be achieved by transferring wealth from the “haves” to the “have-nots.” As one can expect from most socialist reasoning (an oxymoron…emphasis on MORON), the holes in their policy are massive. Bernie Madoff sits in a jail cell as police, prosecutors, and plaintiff’s attorneys confiscate every remnant of his former ill-gained fortune. Now he appears to be broke. Should someone be required to share their wealth with the former prince of ponzi? I suspect that when we speak of transferring wealth from the “richer” to the “poorer,” we are in reality discussing transferring earned wealth from producers to socialist-voting looters. A person’s “right” to the wealth of others is determined by her or his likelihood of voting a certain way.

Transferring wealth is more complex than merely dropping a dollar into the bucket of a curbside beggar. The various governments, non-government agencies (NGA’s), non-profits, churches and other elements of the society employ a number of coercive devices to generate wealth-sharing. First, there is the direct tax, direct payment method. Welfare, Social security, Medicaid and Food Stamps are the most brazen examples. Some transfers are more indirect. They might include tax credits for munchkins (children), subsidies for behaviors (education) and massive industry and corporate subsidies or tax breaks. Straight forward foreign aid is direct. Sweet trade deals for preferred countries are an indirect form of the share the wealth mentality.

The transfer of wealth may also involve some subtlety (or sneakiness, if you prefer). Laws that include certain prohibitions may create a competitive advantage for one or another industry or company. For example, when I served in the legislature, there was a representative who introduced an absolutely devastating axle tax for the trucking industry. And….he introduced a similar bill every session…year after year. As I fielded the calls from truckers in my district and notes from lobbyists representing independent truckers, I sought to discover why he would introduce such a job-killing piece of   legislation. My older colleagues informed me that the offending representative was “in the pocket” of the railroads. No one took his legislation seriously, and it would not go anywhere, but just like biennial elections, he introduced it every session to earn his campaign check. When those pieces of legislation are taken seriously and passed, then a law-induced transfer of wealth is the result. Wait, there’s more.

Nearly every regulatory initiative passed by nearly every legislative body or agency impacts some industries more than others…a subtle transfer of wealth. Within given industries some companies may be more adversely affected than their competitors by new rules because of their size, location or any number of intervening factors….in essence a transfer of wealth because compliance costs are not fairly assessed. The great dream of the socialist agenda, ObamaCare, is the epitome of a wealth transfer mechanism at every level. The more than one thousand, one hundred (1,100) waivers granted so far to corporations and labor unions with the “correct” political leanings is the epitome of an indirect and sometimes subtle transfer of wealth. As you can detect, wealth transfers involve much more than simply “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” They also include subsidizing Paul and giving him tax breaks. They may involve regulating Peter at a much greater level than Paul so that Paul gains a competitive advantage. Think of coal, oil and natural gas rules and regulations versus the subsidy packages for wind power, solar systems, and bio-fuels. And yet…the “green” technologies are not competitive on the open energy market.

Licensing and registrations are another form of wealth transfer that operates outside the public view. In my early days as a broadcaster, there were no licensing fees for stations to operate once they had paid the initial start-up licensing amounts. Now stations must pay annual fees based upon their transmitter power, their markets and their gross revenues. In other words the more successful stations must pay a penalty for their efforts while the ones that are not so successful get by with lower fees. Stations that have made the effort to attract topnotch on-air talent and hire competent sales people must subsidize the regulatory administrative costs for less popular stations.

Transferring wealth by force is how the government functions. Government by its very nature is the definition of force. In a world where liberty reigns, wealth would be transferred unfettered by government coercion. A series of voluntary transactions wherein quality, productivity and service would thrive is the model for free commerce. While government stacks the deck and enforces its preferences, wealth is transferred….and we’re all much poorer and less free.

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Government-mandated Outsourcing

In February it was announced that Deutsche Boerse had agreed in principle to purchase the New York Stock Exchange (Euronext) for $10 billion. With the purchase, the German company would become the largest exchange operator in the world. Politicians and the financial community lauded the proposed deal as one of great opportunity for expanding markets. In response Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. joined with Intercontinental Exchange Inc. to offer a competing bid for the NYSE. While the New York entity was considering the offers…one from Germany and the other primarily U.S. based…the federal government sprang into action.

Even though the final offer from the domestic Nasdaq group was sweeter than the original offer of the German concern, the NYSE rejected the proposal from the American suitors. Although they stated a primary reason was that the prospect of being a part of the largest exchange in the world intrigued them, concern was also expressed about the monopoly aspects of a merger with the other U.S. company. In other words, there were reservations about whether or not the United States’ Federal Government would initiate anti-trust action against the merger. Government regulations and the potential for heavy-handed litigation were influential in the final decision to sell the NYSE to a foreign entity. This little scenario is emblematic of the legal and regulatory environment in our country today and may be a significant indicator for the reasons some companies may choose to relocate their headquarters offshore.

The NYSE-Nasdaq kabuki dance is a reminder of the effect that government power has on businesses. Just the threat of government action may alter the decision-making process for a company. That could be a good thing if the corporation were intending to engage in harmful or radically unsafe practices. The other side is that subjective or arbitrary regulating may lead companies to become timid or frustrated. We can see evidence of that in the distribution of waivers for “Obamacare.” Friends, contributors and supporters receive favorable treatment while the remainder of the nation is expected to comply with the thousands of arcane rules and mandates. Big government holds the power to subjectively enforce its many rules. For a serious business operation this milieu may be intolerable because it is nearly impossible to successfully forecast and plan when the rules are implemented in a whimsical fashion.

Even if government were to enforce a given law uniformly, the businesses involved will always suspect that, at some point, the rules will change or enforcement would be unevenly practiced. The weakness of big government regulatory mechanisms should be readily apparent. In many countries and cultures bribery and corruption are the best method for companies to avoid getting lost in the regulatory maze. It is possible for smaller government to be corrupt, but because of its limited influence on the marketplace, the corruption may not have much of an impact in the marketplace. Most people and businesses seek stability. They may prefer consistent corruption to an unevenly enforced regulatory environment.

The proliferation of new rules, laws and regulations have generated a marketplace that finds its workers treading on eggshells. Government enforcers at every level appear to be constantly prowling for violations, real and imagined. Laws and regulations are unevenly enforced from sector to sector, business to business, and region to region. Bureaucrats have assumed the power (or it has been given to them) to transform vaguely-worded, over-arching legislation and molding the result into an unending series of nitpicking, nonsensical requirements. Despite the insanity of the rules, business must comply or be fined………………or relocate. Now add unrealistic union workplace rules to the bureaucratic morass and one wonders why any businesses remain here.

Fear is often as lethal as force. Fear is a prime motivator for behavior modification. In other words, fear of punishment or fear of retribution may cause you or a business to act in ways that are not in your best interests. In a democratic republic the people should not fear the government, but the government should fear the people (credit and kudos to Thomas Jefferson and “V for Vendetta”). When we fear the government more than it fears us, it is time for reordering our priorities….time to restructure the way things are.

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Taxing Madness

The Obamacare legislation that the U.S. House of Representatives neglected to defund is laden with many new taxes and fees. President Obama has called for the repeal of the Bush-era tax rates, and for Congress to increase taxes on the rich. In Obama-speak, rich is someone who earns more than $200 thousand per year or $250 thousand for a couple. Tanning salons, pottery sheds, independent pizza shops, 4-pump gas stations and ice cream trucks may conceivably qualify as “rich” under the new lexicon. I do not know what you believe, but I think that we are already over taxed. The marketplace informs us that a value of a product or service is determined by its appeal. Deep within my skeptical core I know that I do not receive reasonable value for my tax “investments.” In fact, I would characterize most of the programs and initiatives supported by taxation as rip-offs and scams. We all know that Social Security is a vast Ponzi scheme, and many other government programs are overfunded today with massive funding increases due later on down the road. Think of bonds issued by many local and state governments…the payments continue as the bridges and roadways crumble. If government were competing in the marketplace, it would fail. We would have an opportunity to attend a massive liquidation sale as the hard assets of the various agencies, departments, bureaus and directorates were offered to the highest bidder (OK, so I’m dreaming…sue me).

Many of those agencies and bureaus are increasing fees for some of their services and transactions which, in effect, raise taxes on those various functions for those who use those services. The U.S. Congress and the profligate administration make the Sheriff of Nottingham look like a warm and fuzzy kind of guy when it comes to tax assessment and tax collection. As the government grows, as its regulation, rules and laws increase it embarks on a frenzied search for more revenue to pay for its regulatory excesses. True, they can and do borrow trillions of dollars, but they require vast sums of our hard earned dollars just to pay the interest on the debt. Their irresponsible management of the nation and our communities coupled with heavy borrowing…weakens the value of the dollar, and thus, leading to inflation which becomes a pernicious method of increasing our taxes through bracket creep. Our cost of living increases under the weak dollar, inflationary regime thus adding additional strains to our budgets. The result is that taxpaying citizens must do more with less while government does less and takes more. This is not a formula for prosperity. This is not a formula for serenity. This cycle makes King George III’s tea tax seem like small potatoes.

In the past three years Tea Party or Tea Party-type organizations have sprung up all over the nation as every-day citizens have joined together to combat the growing power, excessive spending and irresponsible borrowing by the government. Each local group has its own identity and priorities thus lending an air of confusion and disunity when an incident or issue requires action. In addition, the effectiveness of the Tea Party citizen groups is limited because of government abuse at so many levels and in so many arenas. It is somewhat like trying to fill a bucket with water while trying to catch a mist. While the Tea Parties and disgruntled citizens may have the power to retard the growth of government, I suspect that their impact will be minimal. The crisis for our nation is approaching much too quickly for the Tea Party-effect to be truly meaningful.

The answer for dealing with an oppressive, tyrannical government may be more chaotic and disruptive than many of us have assumed. It doesn’t seem feasible for us to send new legislators, congresspersons or administrators to government positions quickly enough to reverse the harm that has already been done to our country. The bureaucracy is infested with leftists who will drag their feet and resist any attempt to roll back their power and authority. Politicians by their nature want to be liked, and because the looters and the lefties have historically been louder and more forceful than the producers, it will be extremely difficult to capture the ears and the interest of enough politicians to assure success. The tipping point may have been reached, and the only remedies available may be for individual states to leave the union and form new like-minded alliances or federations. Dissolution of the federal government remains a possibility as it continues on its deadly path toward economic destruction. On the other hand, as long as the power rests in Washington the leviathan will fight for its survival even if it requires destroying the states, the economy and what remains of the nation. Government will confiscate every asset available to protect itself. The people will pay…again.

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Mother, May I?

“Take a step backward.”

“Mother, May I?”

You’ve probably played or observed that game when you were in elementary school. The premise was that no activity could be initiated until you requested the permission of “Mother.” If you failed to seek the approval of the “Mother,” you were prohibited from taking the action, and indeed, would be penalized. Isn’t it wonderful that during your formative years, you were being prepared to be a willing and docile member of the Nanny State? I was doing some research Sunday afternoon, and my mind wandered off into the weeds…a common occurrence. I tried to identify at least one element of my life that is not impacted by a law, rule, regulation, ordinance or covenant. There may be some, but I was unable to recall them.

You have probably seen a picture of Gulliver when he was restrained by the Lilliputians. There lies the big fellow with multiple lines restricting his movements. He’s apparently conscious and aware, but he is incapable of performing the simplest task without the permission of the “little people.” Jonathan Swift has been rightly celebrated as a brilliant political satirist, and the enduring nature of his work is made clear by the germaneness of the Gulliver word picture. His 18^th Century work maintains its resonance today. All around us we can find evidence that we are being controlled by the little people. “You must do this,” “you may not do that,””buy a license, pay a fee,” and be certain to read the fine print are seemingly the sum and substance of our daily lives.

While President Obama pleads for a more civil tone in Washington, his bureaucratic minions are forcing us to say “please” every time we wish to do something for ourselves. My experience has taught me that forced politeness or civility often leads to smoldering resentment. Compliance and conformity with rules and regulations consume valuable chunks of our time and patience as we wait on “hold” for a live human voice to resolve our issue. We angrily attempt to decipher where our problem fits into the inadequate menu delivered by the monotonic voice as we stumble through the numerical options she offers. Even though we feel detached and insignificant as we struggle through the bureaucratic maze, we also know that the tentacles, the strings are real. We suspect that we have become marinated marionettes…in a pickle with strings firmly attached.

Do this, do that, don’t do this, and by all means never do that. At times it seems as if I spend my life saying “Excuse me” as I continually bump into the Nanny as I attempt to live my life, my way. Liberty should not be adorned with strings, chains and cables. Liberty should be packaged with ribbons and those clever little stickers. Strings, chains and fetters are not the essence of liberty. They are the antithesis of freedom. It is past time for us to sever the annoying threads of too-big government. The moment has come for us to assert our natural God-given rights and insist that Big Brother, the Nanny State, Mother and the whole damned controlling governmental family leave us alone. It is time that we pay the COST for liberty and freedom. Cut Our Strings Today…the cost is commitment and perseverance. The payoff is freedom.

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