Kadoka High School

Kadoka, South Dakota

Teacher:  Teresa Shuck

Government As Regulator

By:  Amber Riggins

11^th grade

            There is too much government regulation in our country.  Some regulation is needed to limit, if not stop completely, violence, pollution, traffic violations, the use of illegal substances, etc.  However, many government officials seem not to spend their time on the important, nation-wide problems, but on small regional problems that restrict citizens’ freedom and individuality, thus hurting more than are protected.

            Government regulation is needed because without some sense of it, the people of our country would have no limits or boundaries.  People would seek justice for themselves, and would go about getting it in their own manners.  There would be much violence, and without government regulation there would be no uniform laws for punishment.

Congress should, for the most part, decide what constitutes over-regulation.  The citizens of our nation should also have some part in the decision.  A system of voting could be set up for the issue.  This could be done on a state or countywide basis, depending upon which regulations were being addressed.

The legal drinking age of 21 is also an example of legitimate regulation.  The statistics for death involving alcohol are much too high.  Some adults are not able to drink responsibly, and at the “invincible” age of eighteen, people are even more likely to do reckless, negligent acts.  Innocent people are killed every day, because someone decides they are sober enough to drive when they’re not.  Three more years before you are able to legally drink may make you three years the wiser.   

            Hand-in-hand with the afore said example, the law for wearing a seatbelt is also legitimate regulation.  The chances for a life being saved because the person is not wearing his seatbelt are very, very slim.  Citizens use the argument that, if they see they are going to be in an accident, they can prepare themselves.  It is impossible to prepare yourself for a car wreck, just as it is impossible to prepare yourself for riding a bicycle into a brick wall.  An accident can happen in the blink of an eye, often before you are even aware of what is happening.  Wearing a seatbelt can and has saved many lives.

            Speed limits are also essential.  Though they are not uniform throughout the nation, they are a way of adding to the safety of travel.  A high-speed car accident would likely have more casualties than a lower speed accident.  When people are pulled over and given fines for not abiding the law, it may be a lesson that they will remember. 

            However, on the topic of unnecessary government regulation, we have the story of 15-year-old Monique Landers, a high school student from Wichita, Kansas.  Landers began her own small African hair-braiding business, “A Touch of Class.”  She earned about $100 a month and was honored as one of five Outstanding High School Entrepreneurs.  She felt that “owning your own business is a way of being free.”

            However, the Kansas Cosmetology Board warned Landers that it was illegal for her to, in any way, touch hair for profit without a license.  If the teenager refused to stop, she was subject to “a fine or imprisonment in the county jail or both”.

            Landers could not be accepted into one of the nation’s few schools that teach braiding until she turned 17.  Where is the harm in a young girl braiding and washing the hair of her friends and family members for a small profit?  Would the government rather she stole $100 a month? Would they rather she sold drugs or liquor?  Landers was just a young girl trying to earn an honest dollar, not trying to break a law or end up in jail.

            Another example of unnecessary legislation is the ridiculous amount of time Congress has allotted to construct highways and airports. On average, 12 years need to build a highway and 15 years to build an airport.  This is a long time period.  With proper instruction, this phase could be considerably shorter.  National transportation is an important issue.  Improvements of highways and airports could lead to easier, less expensive travel.

Yet another example of nonessential government regulation is restrictions on having a good time.  Now instead of trying to prevent shoplifting and the consumption of alcohol by minors, the government is trying to stop people from having fun.  Bungee-jumping and skateboarding are now forbidden in some areas of our country; white-water rafting companies and rock-climbing schools are being analyzed for stricter policies; roller-bladers can now be fined in some vicinities for being a legally unacceptable combination of car and pedestrian.

            Perhaps the biggest and most ludicrous killjoy is in Charleston, Indiana, where hopscotch, soccer, baseball, and basketball are now illegal in streets, alleys, and even sidewalks.  Where will this outrageousness end?  It will soon be considered criminal to get any exercise at all.  It will be illegal for children to be children, as playing any outdoor games will be against the law. Even such activities as riding bicycles and jumping rope will be banned.

             Huge amounts of money are spent each year by government regulations other than the dollars budgeted for administration and enforcement.  Some of this redundant expenditure is money for archaeological reports, environmental impact reports, clearances by engineers, and architect plans.  Are the opinions of these people really needed?  Or is money just being tossed up into the wind, scattered recklessly by our government?

            There is indeed too much government regulation in our nation today.  Time should be spent focusing on more important, nation-wide issues, and not on trivial matters.  We are living in a great and powerful country, but that power should be enforced in such manners that protect our rights and the rights of others, rather than limit and even omit our privileges and liberties.

Amber’s Questions:

Q1:     What is the only way to prevent hijackers from gaining control of an airplane according to the unknown author?

Answer:  The only way to prevent hijackers from gaining control of an airplane according to the unknown author is to harden the cockpit.  Nobody would go in or out of the cockpit during the flight.  There would be no way to enter the cockpit except for the use of explosives, which would be screened out on the ground.  Costly aircraft re-design would be necessary, such as secure walls and doors, a mini-lave for the crew, and a slot to get food in and out, but the expense would be worth it.

Q2       What are the arguments given by lobbyists for the Bells in favor of HR 1542 (Tauzin-Dingell Bill) and arguments given by their opponents against this legislation?
CQ May 5 p 1012

Answer:  The arguments given by lobbyists for the Bells in favor of HR 1542 are:  the bill would speed deployment of broadband services, as well as help jump-start the information technology sector.  Also, members need regulatory relief to compete with cable television companies and other high-speed Internet providers.

Q3       Why do small-business groups like HR 1831? From the small amount of information presented in your required reading, do you think the legislation is a good idea? Why?
CQ May 19 p. 1161

Answer:  Small-business groups approve of HR 1831 because the bill would protect businesses that discard less than 110 gallons of liquid waste or less than 200 pounds of solid, non-hazardous waste at a superfund site, as well as small businesses that dump ordinary garbage in a landfill rather that later is designated a superfund site. 

Q4       Give an argument in favor of government regulating activities such as roller blading and bungee jumping.
Governing, March 1993 p 23

Answer:  An argument in favor of the government regulating activities such as roller blading and bungee jumping is that it’s just like regulating restaurants to assure that the public is safe.  The government’s general role is making sure that fly-by-night businesses don’t jump into activities where safety is a paramount of concern.

Q5       Define a “burden hour.”
CQ ‘April 28 p. 896

Answer:  A “burden hour” is supposed to measure the time it takes to collect data and fill out federal forms, surveys, and reports. 

Q6       Why was Connecticut Senator, Joseph Lieberman, concerned enough to vote against the nomination of Professor John Graham as administrator of the office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the current Bush administration?
CQ May 26 p 1229

Answer:  Connecticut Senator, Joseph Lieberman, was concerned enough to vote against the nomination of Professor John D. Graham as administrator of the office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the current Bush administration.  Lieberman cited Graham’s past criticisms of clean-air and clean-water statutes and questioned whether he would weaken federal health, environmental and safety hazards.  He, along with many others, felt that Graham was someone who would use a patina of science to block government rules needed to protect Americans from health, safety, and environmental hazards.  Also, every major government regulation overturned or created by the Bush administration would go through Graham’s agency, which is part of the Office of Management and Budget.  Instead of estimating the number of lives that would be saved by a regulation, Graham tries to determine how many years of life would be saved.  That means, say other critics that he dismisses problems that might not arise for decades and solutions that might add a few high-quality years to an individual’s life. 

Q6a     Graham is a proponent of “risk analysis.”  How is risk analysis defined on page 992 of the May 5, 2001 issue of Congressional Quarterly Weekly?

Answer:  On page 922 of the May 5, 2001 issue of Congressional Quarterly Weekly, “risk analysis” is defined as the calculation of the likelihood of a hazard against the costs and benefits of preventing it.

Q6b     Who was the first president to order federal agencies to weigh potential costs and benefits when writing a rule?
CQ May5 2001 p 993

Answer:  President Jimmy Carter was the first president to order federal agencies to weigh potential costs and benefits when writing a rule.

Q6       How much would compliance with OSHA’s regulations to limit injuries or disabilities from performing repetitive tasks cost according to an estimate by business groups as reported in the 2000 CQ Almanac?   What was the response of OSHA and Labor Department officials? 
CQ Almanac p 2-111

Answer:  Compliance with OSHA’s regulations to limit injuries or disabilities from performing repetitive tasks would cost an estimated $14 billion to $80 billion a year.  OSHA and Labor Department officials, however, say the rule is intended to be flexible and would not require most companies to act.  They say that while costing employers $4.2 billion annually, the rule would also save them $9 billion a year in lost productivity.

Q7       What was the makeup of the “iron triangle” during the Reagan years and what do environmentalists and consumer activists foresee as its composition in the current Bush administration?
CQ May 5 p 990

Answer:  The “iron triangle” during the Reagan years was an unbreakable alliance among Democratic committee chairmen, agency officials and interest groups that worked in concert to achieve common goals, whether it was funding for special projects or protecting specific constituencies.  Though it appears the old iron triangle has turned on its head, environmentalists and consumer activists foresee the formation of a new triad composed of industry officials, the White House and GOP committee chairmen, that leaves them out of the picture. 

Q8       Name 5 actions of the Bush administration that have drawn criticism from Environmentalists.
CQ May 5, 2001 p. 994 and 995

Answer:  Five actions of the Bush administration that draw criticism from environmentalists are:

1.)        Bush signed legislation to kill a Clinton ergonomics rule opposed by many major business groups, who argued that it would cost too much to implement. 

2.)        He also signaled his intention to reverse or revise Clinton regulations, including one to toughen cleanup standards for hard rock mining operations.

3.)        Bush went back on a campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide.

4.)        He rejected the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. 

5.)        Bush also stirred up great public criticism by reversing a Clinton rule to reduce the levels of arsenic in drinking water.  The rule, which was issued in December, would have lowered the amount of arsenic permitted in drinking water to 10 parts per billion from 50 parts per billion.

Q9       What did the executive order issued by Ronald Reagan in 1981 and still in effect today, requires agencies to prove before new regulations were enacted? How did the Democratic House counter in 1986?
CQ May 5, 2001 p. 995

Answer:  The executive order issued by Ronald Reagan in 1981 requires agencies to prove that a regulation’s benefits would “outweigh” its costs, before new regulations were enacted.  In 1986, the Democratic House forced a showdown by deleting funds for OMB’s regulatory division from the fiscal 1987 budget. 

Q10     On the average, how long does it take to build an airport?  A highway?
CQ May 19, 2001 p 1163

Answer:  On average, it takes 15 years to build an airport and 12 years to build a highway.

Q11     Discuss the pros and cons of licensing requirements.
Wall Street Journal June 18, 1993

Answer:  Pros of licensing requirements are that the government can standardize rules that apply to everyone, rules that can help keep people safe.  Some of these are goals like safe buildings, adequate water, low density and picturesque surroundings.  Some cons of licensing requirements are that the government can restrict people who are just trying to make an honest living, such as Monique Landers, the 15-year-old high school student who was not allowed to continue running her small African hair-braiding business because she didn’t have a cosmetology license.  She couldn’t be accepted to a hair-braiding school until she was seventeen, and there are few schools that even teach braiding.  The government can, in a sense, keep you from being who you are.  Intended to help people, they can hurt them instead.

Q12     Discuss the pros and cons of master plans and planning departments.
Taking A Stand On Regulation pp 80-82

Answer:  Some pros of master plans and planning departments are that many communities have greatly benefited from successful growth management, simply by looking ahead and trying to prevent damage.  On the other hand, cons of planning commissions are that time can be wasted.  Money can be unnecessarily spent for archaeological reports, environmental impact reports, clearances by engineers, architect plans, and so on.  Requirements such as these contribute to high real estate prices, lifting property ownership to heights beyond the average consumer.

Back