Being Regulated

I like driving on a road with yellow lines and clear signs as to where I can drive and where I shouldn’t. I like it that at intersections there are rules that we are encouraged to obey—like who has the right of way. Traffic lights come in handy, too. I bet they even save lives. I bet they even save the lives of folks who don’t trust the government. Me? I’m glad that someone smarter than I worked out how to minimize accidents. Even when, late at night, waiting at a traffic light that refused to change to green while no one else was on the road. Nevertheless, in the daytime, in traffic, I’m grateful that if I wait a bit, I will have a turn to proceed to my destination unafraid that someone who hates to be told what to do will smash into me.

Oh, and air. That basic of all basic needs—to be able to breathe. I like it that there is a government agency in charge of the quality of the air I breathe. They might not be doing a perfect job, but experts at some agency drew up guidelines for acceptable air quality. I wonder what life might become if that agency was dismantled. Maybe nothing for a while but, at some point, corporations who produce air pollution would figure out a way to save money without all those pesky regulations. When enough of them decided to save money, we might all be the worst for it. I can envision a time when we’d all be wearing gas masks just to go outside because we didn’t like being ‘controlled’ by the government. I wonder if folks would prefer gas masks to a few regulations. I think the clean air act included smoking in enclosed areas. I can remember when smokers could smoke wherever they wanted—even inside office buildings, elevators, and airplanes. Now they aren’t allowed to, thanks to some annoying government regulations. I think I prefer breathing air that isn’t filled with someone’s cigarette smoke. Don’t you?

What about water? I prefer mine to be cleaned of harmful chemicals. I think we have to thank the government for that. Maybe we should do so soon, because that agency, too, is on the chopping block.

At 84, I probably won’t be affected too badly, but for my grandchildren—and yours—life might become a bit of a nightmare without the government agencies doing what they do. Many Americans and American businesses will do whatever they want to do as long as there are no consequences for their behavior. That’s what regulating agencies were created for, by the way, for those folks who are bad at self-regulating. When I consider what the future might look like without those externally imposed rules, I am afraid for future generations.

I also worry about all those agency employees who would lose their jobs. Might that be a crisis? Unemployment would soar. And if the agency that tries to help unemployed people was also dismantled, well, I can foresee a huge problem there.

I wonder if anyone has thought this through?