Rockridge High School

Taylor Ridge, IL

Government as Regulator

By Andy Parchert

12^th Grade

Questions not answered in essay:

1.Why do you think government regulation is needed?

Regulations are needed to keep a safe environment. Without regulations set up by the government, people would be free to do whatever they want, when they want. That would lead to mass chaos and disorder.

2. Give at least 3 examples of legitimate regulation. (3 examples of unnecessary regulations are in my paper)

The tobacco laws are good regulations because they prevent minors from getting addicted to nicotine. Another one is the regulations against drunk driving. This helps prevent car accidents caused by drunk driving. The third example is the regulations on air pollution. These regulations help keep the air we breathe clean.

3.What costs are attached to government regulations other than dollars budgeted for administration and enforcement?

There are four listed in my paper. Two other costs are the lives lost each year for the policemen to enforce the laws, and the lawsuits filed against officials for wrong doing.

4. Who should decide what constitutes over-regulation? How should the decision be made?

The public has the right to decide. They are the ones who have to live by the regulations and are faced with them on a daily basis so they know what too much regulation is. The decisions should be put to a vote, much like the presidential vote where people could voice their opinions in the form of a ballot.

Essay

The Government of the United States of America plays the part of the Regulator in our society. They are like our parents, always telling us what we can and can not do. Some rules and regulations that they have set up benefit everyone and are good for keeping a safe environment for us. But how many rules and regulations are too many? Some are strict violations of our rights as human beings while others are down right stupid and unfair. There is too much government regulation in America today. There are many cases in which government has taken advantage of their position as rules makers. Some examples of too much government regulation are The Safe Water Act, the warning labels and restrictions they put on music, and the building permit regulations.

My father recently was in charge of taking samples from the community well from which we get our water. After he would take the samples from the well, he would then have to send the samples away to be tested in Springfield. My uncle is also on a community well, but he does not have to test his water. That is because he shares his well with only seven other households and we share ours with eight. Congress passed laws under the Safe Water Act that state that any well that is supporting eight or more houses needs to be tested on a regular basis and fluoride must be put into the water that goes through it. Because of one household, we are forced into putting fluoride into our water even though our water already contained almost enough natural fluoride to meet the standard they set. This cost the people in our community close to a thousand dollars. The reason my dad is no longer the water tester is because under the new laws, we need an official water operator to do the testing. This is costing the people on our well at least a thousand dollars to pay for the official’s wages. The new laws also highly recommend that we add chlorine to the water to kill any further germs not caught by the fluoride. It has been found that the run off of water from farmer’s fields mixed with the chlorine in the well water can produce a deadly chemical called chloroform. That is not exactly the kind of water I want pouring from my faucets.

Another example of how there is too much government regulation is the censorship of music. As if the parental advisory warning labels were not enough, some senators want the music industry to label their products in a way that shows the dangers that could be involved with listening to certain music, almost the same as the tobacco companies label their cigarette packs. In 1999 Senators Joseph Lieberman and John McCain proposed a bill that would do just that. That would strongly hurt the sales of many C.D.’s, particularly heavy metal and rap. Although this warning would not affect young men and woman who have jobs that would help pay for the C.D.’s and cars that could get them to record stores, it would strongly influence parents of younger children not to buy such music. Because of this, kids would not get a chance to listen to great music at home until they were of age to make decisions for themselves. The government is trying to influence parents into thinking some music is going to corrupt their kids and make them do bad things, which is ridiculous. There is no stopping kids from being exposed to such things as sex, drugs, and alcohol. Children are exposed everyday at school and influenced by their peers so would not depriving these kids from so called "intense", "violent", and "dangerous," music would only hurt them? The government should stop trying to be a parent to the parents and let kids enjoy quality music that will enrich kid’s minds, not corrupt them.

This summer I worked as a roofer for Hofer Wholesale. The work was tough but very fulfilling. Before we were able to do a job, we were required to have a building permit. Most of the time the homeowner would take care of getting one. One time, we went to a house of a man who said he had the permit taken care of and to come over when we could. When we got there, we rang the doorbell but nobody was home. The homeowner left us a note that said for us to go ahead and start roofing the house, that he was out of town and would pay us when he got back. So without hesitation we started. We spent half the morning tearing the old shingles off the roof. When we finished that, we started laying down felt paper and then shingles. Lunch time came so we took a break to eat. When we returned, there was a building inspector waiting for us in the driveway. He told us that we had to tear off the new shingles that we had put on because there was no building permit on the house. My boss tried to tell the inspector that the man said he had gotten one, but must have left it inside and forgot to put it up. The inspector said that it did not matter so we had to take them off. All the hard work that was put into the job was for nothing, not to mention the waste of materials and the money that it cost us. As soon as we finished tearing the shingles off, my boss noticed that the garage door was open so he closed it, only to find out that the permit was on the garage door all the time. If the building inspector would have done his job right, he would have noticed the garage door being open and would have checked it. The regulations on building permits cost Hofer Wholesale a lot time, money, and labor. The man took the regulations to the limit when he made us do that. He should have given us a chance to come up with a permit and then let us finish our job.

The government tries to rule our lives a little too much sometimes. While trying to make laws that protect our rights and privileges, they managed to do just the opposite. There is just too much government regulation in our country today. There needs to be a line that the government cannot cross, a point in which they let us live how we want to, instead of how they think we should.

                          Bibliography

"Senate Wants Warning Labels on Music." On-line. Internet. 9 Jan. 2002. Available WWW:

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

The unknown author states that they should harden the cockpit. That way, it would take explosives to get in, which are easy to screen from the ground.

Q2: What are the arguments given by lobbyist for the Bells in favor of HR 1542 (Tauzin-Dingell Bill) and the arguments given by their opponents against this legislation?

Lobbyist that are for the Bells say that their members need regulatory relief to complete with all of the other high speed internet providers. The opponents of the Bell companies say that the Tauzin-Dingell bill would give the Bells a stranglehold on high internet service and delay the development of next generation Web technology.

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?

The smaller companies would have the risk of being sued by large polluters that want to recover some of their government mandated cleanup costs. The legislation is a good idea because they did not harm the environment significantly and are protected by a law, as long as they meet requirements.

Q4: Give an argument in favor of government regulating activities such as rollerblading and bungee-jumping.

It would help protect the well being of the people performing the activities. Bungee- jumping and rollerblading can be high risk activities and should be monitored for safety reasons.

Q5: Define a "burden hour."

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?

Joseph Lieberman cited Graham’s past criticisms of clean air and clean water statistics and questioned whether he would weaken federal health environmental and safety standards.

Q6a: Graham is a proponent of "risk analysis." How is risk analysis defined on page 992 0f the May 5, 2001 issue of Congressional Quarterly Weekly?

Risk Analysis calculates 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?

Jimmy Carter.

Q6: How much would compliance with OSHA’s regulation 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 the Labor Department officials?

The costs would be $14 billion to $80 billion a year. OSHA and Labor Department officials say that the rule is intended to be flexible and would not require most companies to act.

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?

It was an unbreakable alliance between Democratic committee chairmen, agency officials, and interest groups that worked together to reach the same goals. Industry officials, the White House, and GOP committee chairmen.

Q8: Name 5 actions of the Bush administration that have drawn criticism from Environmentalists.

One was reversing a Clinton rule to reduce arsenic in water. The second was a legislation that Bush signed to kill a Clinton ergonomics rule. Another example is when he backed out on a campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide. The fourth is when he rejected the Kyote Protocol on global warming. The fifth was his intention to reverse or revise Clinton regulations including one to toughen clean-up standards for hard rock mining operations.

Q9: What did the executive order issued by Ronald Reagan in 1981 and still in effect today, require agencies to prove before regulations were enacted? How did the Democratic House counter in 1986?

Reagan beefed up the agencies oversight by issuing an executive order in 1981 that required agencies to prove that a regulation’s benefits would "outweigh" its costs.

Q10: On the average, how long does it take to build an airport? A highway?

A highway takes 12 years and the time for an airport is about 15 years.

Q11: Discuss the pros and cons of licensing requirements.

One pro is that when someone is providing a service to you, you know that they are qualified and have officially recognized as such. Another one is that people that paid for schooling to do something are the one’s being paid to provide the service instead of untrained people. A con is that some people may have learned a trait from someone on the side without formal education which would make them just as qualified for the job.

Q12: Discuss the pros and cons of master plans and the planning departments.

A pro is that a consistent plan lets everyone know the rules of the game and what is expected. Another is that master plans enable everyone to look ahead and prevent damage. A con is that there is a loss a freedom and productivity.

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