The Regulated States of America (WSJ)

H

Hu_Fan

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The Regulated States of America -- WSJ (may require $ubscription)
This opinion piece echoes my own social and political philosophy. Read it and you can guess just about any opinion I might offer on this this board, and what I might think about current events and trends in the US government.

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'Tocqueville saw a nation of
individuals who were defiant
of authority. Today? Welcome
to Planet Government."
=======================

In reply to:
Click to expand...
 
"Not only do they have commercial and industrial associations . . . but they also have a thousand other kinds: religious, moral, grave, futile, very general and very particular, immense and very small; Americans use associations to give fetes, to found seminaries, to build inns, to raise churches, to distribute books, to send missionaries to the antipodes; in this manner they create hospitals, prisons, schools."

As much as I love Tocqueville and this quote, think about to whom the quote refers. And the rights or life expectancies for those who didn't fall under this umbrella.

I'm sure we could say "ok, society, you've had enough time to catch up to what Tocqueville saw in America," but it's way too late for that now. Sucks, yes, but it's also not going to move towards to Tocqueville end of the discourse spectrum any time soon.
 
Hu, I am just speechless......
bow.gif


Then you listen to sheep that try and defend it by how much longer we are living today, yea we are living longer today because of the government, do you even listen to yourself or better yet do you even understand what you are saying?
 
Much of the "government" is made up of departments and agencies... literally made up.

Each of these departments and agencies makes up rules and regulations.

They all fall under the Executive Branch of Government, which makes the three branches greatly disproportional, and makes the Executive Branch hardly representative--at least not as directly as Congress. The President and Vice-President are elected by an electoral college, and then they appoint all the rest of that branch for the most part. Some I know are by Senate confirmation, but I would imagine many posts and positions are not. Have to pursue that on another day.

Here is an attempt at a list (below) of most of it, and here is the source:
The Link

Stuff fit for a King or Emperor. Yes, a nation of people needs to set aside a few million citizens to staff and run these agencies and departments in order to... what? Take care of the country and planet for all of us?

Only question I have is "Who made it up?" Who invented it and decided it was all necessary?

And our taxes pay for all of it. I'm working today to pay it. And so are you. Cause you know, of course, none of us could live or exist without all of it.

I know if I'm no longer able to type and contribute to this forum,
I'll be looking for help from the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Interagency Coordinating Committee.

==============================================

Federal Executive Branch

The president is the head of the executive branch of the government,
which includes many departments and agencies.

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INDEPENDENT AGENCIES AND GOVERNMENT CORPORATIONS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A
Administrative Conference of the United States
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
African Development Foundation
AMTRAK (National Railroad Passenger Corporation)
C
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Commission on Civil Rights
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
Corporation for National and Community Service
Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia
D
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
Director of National Intelligence
E
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
Export-Import Bank of the United States
F
Farm Credit Administration
Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
Federal Election Commission (FEC)
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Federal Housing Finance Agency
Federal Labor Relations Authority
Federal Maritime Commission
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission
Federal Reserve System
Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
G
General Services Administration (GSA)
I
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Inter-American Foundation
International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB)
M
Merit Systems Protection Board
Millennium Challenge Corporation
N
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
National Capital Planning Commission
National Council on Disability
National Credit Union Administration (NCUA)
National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Humanities
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
National Mediation Board
National Railroad Passenger Corporation (AMTRAK)
National Science Foundation (NSF)
National Transportation Safety Board
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
O
Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission
Office of Compliance
Office of Government Ethics
Office of Personnel Management
Office of Special Counsel
Office of the Director of National Intelligence
Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive
Overseas Private Investment Corporation
P
Panama Canal Commission
Peace Corps
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Postal Regulatory Commission
R
Railroad Retirement Board
S
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Selective Service System
Small Business Administration (SBA)
Social Security Administration (SSA)
T
Tennessee Valley Authority
U
U.S. Trade and Development Agency
United States Agency for International Development
United States International Trade Commission
United States Postal Service (USPS)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A
Administrative Committee of the Federal Register
American Battle Monuments Commission
Appalachian Regional Commission
Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board)
Arctic Research Commission
Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Interagency Coordinating Committee
B
Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation
Broadcasting Board of Governors (Voice of America, Radio|TV Marti and more)
C
Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board
Chief Acquisition Officers Council
Chief Financial Officers Council
Chief Human Capital Officers Council
Chief Information Officers Council
Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee
Commission of Fine Arts
Commission on International Religious Freedom
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission)
Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements
Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States
Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
D
Delaware River Basin Commission
Denali Commission
E
Endangered Species Committee
F
Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board
Federal Advisory Committees
Federal Executive Boards
Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council
Federal Financing Bank
Federal Geographic Data Committee
Federal Interagency Committee for the Management of Noxious and Exotic Weeds
Federal Interagency Committee on Education
Federal Interagency Council on Statistical Policy
Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer
Federal Library and Information Center Committee
Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission
H
Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation
I
Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor Commission
Indian Arts and Crafts Board
Interagency Alternative Dispute Resolution Working Group
Interagency Council on Homelessness
Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin
J
J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board
James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation
Japan-United States Friendship Commission
Joint Board for the Enrollment of Actuaries
Joint Fire Science Program
M
Marine Mammal Commission
Migratory Bird Conservation Commission
Millennium Challenge Corporation
Mississippi River Commission
Morris K. Udall Foundation: Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental Policy
N
National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare
National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
National Indian Gaming Commission
National Park Foundation
Northwest Power Planning Council
Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board
P
Presidio Trust
R
Regulatory Information Service Center
S
Social Security Advisory Board
Susquehanna River Basin Commission
T
Taxpayer Advocacy Panel
U
U.S. AbilityOne Commission
United States Election Assistance Commission
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
V
Veterans Day National Committee
Vietnam Educational Foundation
W
White House Commission on Presidential Scholars – "Presidential Scholars Program"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Too many to list...and I mean there are MANY!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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QUASI-OFFICIAL AGENCIES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Legal Services Corporation
Smithsonian Institution
State Justice Institute
United States Institute of Peace
 
The op seems generally too simplistic to me. The America that the Frenchman visited is not the same that is being governed today. We're not an agrarian nation with widely spread out populations unable to to rapidly communicate or move about let alone conduct extensive trade in manufactured goods or services.

Regulation arose from needs presented by an evolving world and national economy. If you want an example of an unregulated industrial America, don't look to 1833. Look to the country after the Civil War and into the 20th Century. Robber barons, exploited labor, unsafe workplaces and myriad other problems necessitated government involvement for the good of the people.

You can (and should) argue against excess or silly regulations, but a general argument against government regulation based on the USA in 1833 is absurd in a contemporary context.

In fact, or at least in my opinion, holding up this notion of 1833 America and imagining some similar utopia for today if only there were no regulation from the government is to compare two rather useless romantic notions.
 
"Then you listen to sheep that try and defend it by how much longer we are living today"

Uh... what?

I was saying that the people who didn't fall under the premise of Tocqueville's quote... you know... indentured servants, child laborers, Irishmen, etc... had it way too rough to reap any of the benefits that Tocqueville saw from NGO's. Tocqueville's quote was aimed at the upper class men who headed these efforts, which, back then, had very different goals and expectations. Especially compared to Frenchmen.

"Unlike Frenchmen, he continued, who instinctively looked to the state to provide economic and social order, Americans relied on their own efforts."
And the efforts of about 2 million free laborers south of the 39th parallel. Times have changed.

All of the societal welfare we've put in place since 1833 has both solved some of these problems and created new problems. Just because you don't like the new problems doesn't mean people are going to go all Tocqueville on the citizenry.
 
Whether we're living in 1833 or not, the real issue is do you trust the business community to voluntarily not put the public's health and safety at risk even if they think they can make more money by doing so? I don't. I think they'll do whatever they can to make money, and if they have to injure the public to do it, I think they will, if they can get away with it. Therefore, we need some kind of regulatory state. Having said that, are there specific regulations that are stupid, don't actually protect the public, and are overly burdensome? Undoubtedly.
 
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