Rockridge High School
TaylorRidge, Illinois
Teacher: Barbara Downey
Regulations: How much is too much?
By Tucker Blaser
12th grade
1-Why do you think government regulation is needed?
I believe government regulation is needed because if we did not have any regulations, then our country would be in complete chaos. We as a society need to have boundaries and limits because if we didn’t, we would always be pushing farther and doing extreme things. The regulations try and keep everything at a happy medium. They help keep peace.
2-Give at least 3 examples of legitimate regulation and 3 examples of unnecessary regulation. (Examples of uneccesary regulation included in paper.)
I believe in the regulation of airport security. I think this is a very necessary regulation because of the recent events. We need these regulations to ensure our national safety. A legitimate regulation would be gun control. We need laws that keep guns out of the wrong hands. If we had no regulations on guns, then people would take the law into their own hands. Another legitimate regulation would be continued testing of food and drugs. I believe that the Food and Drug Administration is very important to our nation’s well being. We as Americans have to be able to trust that the food we eat and the medicine we take is safe.
3-What costs are attached to government regulations other than dollars budgeted for administration and enforcement?
I believe that there are many costs attached to government regulations. I think that time is the biggest cost attached to regulations. For example, if a law gets passed and it is controversial, then someone will probably challenge it. So it goes through the courts which costs the judicial system time and all the lawyers and the people involved in the challenge. Another cost would be the patience of a lot of people. If a regulation is passed and it affects a certain group of people, then their patience is tested. Every regulation that is passed includes a lot of paperwork, and paperwork is definitely not a fun thing. I am sure that is a major cost to the person doing the paperwork. Another cost would be the loss of freedom that some people would lose because of the regulations passed. In every law there are some privileges that get taken away or restricted and people would have to deal with that. Stress would also be a cost of passing regulation. Every person involved in writing the regulation and those who it affects, would have major unneeded stress placed on them.
4-Who should decide what constitutes over-regulation? How should the decision be made?
I think that a board of regulation should be made up of seven members, one from each region of the country; their main job would be researching all angles of a regulation before it is passed. The seven members would research how the regulation would effect their region of the country and then they would vote for or against.
Essay
This past summer almost every Sunday a group of friends and I would get together and play a game of basketball at the end of my street. My friends and I would have so much fun and play until it was dark. I recently heard of a town in Indiana that passed a law that would not allow kids to play basketball in the streets at any time. This is so totally outrageous and ignorant that it is almost funny… almost.
Another activity my friends and I do is skateboard or rollerblade around town. In many states including Florida, this is illegal without a license. This is just plain ridiculous. What is next? Are we going to need a license to walk down the street? In some cities in Ohio it is, in fact, illegal to walk down the street late at night because of city curfews. These strict regulations are immoral and unconstitutional. I believe that there is way too much state and federal government regulation in our country.
I believe in our government, and I think that it does a really good job, but it over- regulates too many things in our lives. I do think we need certain regulations or the country would be in complete chaos, but if they keep regulating all of the things we do, then we will start to lose our individuality.
One of my favorite things to do at home is to get online and download songs from Napster. Napster is a free music web site where you can download all of your favorite songs. I was furious when the government shut down the web site Napster. In the world today when there are such terrible things as terrorism attacks, murder, and drunk driving, I ask, why kill free music? The government concentrates on shutting down a free music web site, when it should be concentrating on real issues like drunk driving. Drunk driving kills millions of people each year and free music has still not caused a casualty.
Besides killing free music, all music by government order has now been rated. This means that all the compact discs have a sticker rating the content of that CD. If the sticker rates the CD as Mature or Parental Advisory, then you have to be at least 16 years old to buy it or have a parent with you. This is totally outrageous. Most kids today hear more dirty words on the playground then they will in any CD. The government passes these regulations without really thinking of the younger generation. The members of government don’t know what it feels like to be a fifteen year old kid. This kid wants that one special CD so bad but can’t have it because of a couple dirty words. The censorship and death of free music is just another example of our over-regulating government
I was in class about two weeks, and I had a horrible migraine. I went up to the teacher with whom I had a good relationship and asked her for some Tylenol. She looked at me and said she was sorry, but she could not legally give me any medicine. She told me to go to the nurse, and I did. The school nurse had left for the day, so there I was with a horrible migraine and no one who could help me. I ended up going home and missing a whole day of school, because my teacher was not allowed to give me one single little Tylenol. This is totally unacceptable and ridiculous. I was outraged by these events and questioned my teacher the next day. She said it was against the law for a member of the faculty to give any medicinal help to a student. This is Tylenol we are talking about, not some highly dangerous illegal drug. The government again passed this law without thinking of the younger generation.
At a very young age we are taught to follow our teacher’s directions, listen to them, and to have a good relationship with them. Our teachers are told by our government to have a good relationship with their students. The government is very hypocritical by telling teachers they can not provide help when one of their students is in need of medical help. The government needs to review some of these extreme laws and decide if they are really fair.
Every human being pretty much knows the difference between right and wrong. The government must put more trust in its people to do what is right. They can not try and regulate every little thing. Instead they should worry about bigger issues like national defense and our economy, and not worry about kids playing a game of basketball in the street. Because honestly, which is more important?
Bibliography
“StupidLaws dot com.” On-line. Internet. 13 Jan. 2002. Available WWW:http://www.stupidlaws.com/entertainment/geo_movietime.html
Questions Based on Required Reading
Q1 What is the only way to prevent hijackers from gaining control of an airplane according to the unknown author?
There is only one way to prevent hijackers from gaining control of an airplane and that is to harden the cockpit.
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?
Tauzin and Dingell’s proposal seeks to address the way data is transmitted over long distances as well as how independent phone companies can connect to regional Bell companies local networks. Their opponents want to require Bell to reduce their share of local markets to a maximum of eighty-five percent before they are allowed to carry any Internet traffic.
Q3Why 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 not have the risk of being sued by large polluters that want to recover some of their government mandated clean up costs. They like because they did not harm the environment significantly and now are protected by the law from being sued as long as they meet the requirements. Yes, I believe this is a great bill because it is fair and it protects the good and honest small companies.
Q4 Give an argument in favor of government regulating activities such as rollerblading and bungee-jumping.
The activities of rollerblading and bungee-jumping can possibly deadly and therefore should be regulated. If death is a high possibility in the activity then it should have strict regulations. If it did not have regulation, then innocent people would die because of lack of rules.
Q5Define 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.
Q6Why 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 criticism’s of clean-air and clean water statues and whether if he as head of Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs would weaken federal health, environment, and safety standards.
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
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
Q6c 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 OHSA and Labor Department Officials?
Business groups say pending rules’ breadth and vaugeness would drive up their cost of compliance‑‑ their estimates range from $14 billion to $80 billion a year—and would wrongly cut into business productivity and profitability. OSHA and Labor Department officials say 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?
It was an unbreakable alliance between Democratic committee chairman, agency officials, and interest groups that worked together to reach common goals. The new triangle they fear will be the White House, GOP committee chairman, and industry officials.
Q8 Name 5 actions of the Bush administration that have drawn criticism from Environmentalists.
Well, first would be reversing a Clinton rule to reduce arsenic in water. Bush has already signed legislation to kill Clinton ergonomics rule. Bush has also stoked public criticism by going back on a campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide. He rejected the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, and he has intentions to toughen cleanup standards for hard rock mining operations.
Q9What did the executive order issued by Ronald Reagan in 1981 and still in effect today, require agencies to prove before new regulations were enacted? How did the Democratic House counter in 1986?
Reagan beefed up the agency oversight power by issuing an executive order to prove that a regulation’s benefits would “outweigh” its costs. In 1986, the Democratic-controlled House forced a showdown by deleting funds for OMB’s regulatory division from the fiscal 1987 budget. Lawmakers restored money after OMB director Miller and Wendy Lee Gramm agreed to make the rule-making process more transparent by disclosing White House documents related to regulatory decisions.
Q10On the average, how long does it take to build an airport? A highway?
It takes about 15 years to build an airport and about 12 years for a highway.
Q11 Discuss the pros and cons of licensing requirements.
Well we need licensing requirements because if we did not then we would have untrained people providing services for us. The con is that people who do not have the time or money for these schools will miss out on a great career, and sometimes these people are the ones that are most
talented.
Q12Discuss the pros and cons of master plans and planning departments.
A pro is that they help cities plan ahead and prevent damage. A con is that sometimes these people are not qualified to make the decisions they make and they end up hurting the city.