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Freedom?
What Freedom?
By Fred Gielow
We like to think we're free, but are
we really free, when so much of our daily life is prescribed by
federal, state, and local governments? A booklet I received recently
makes the point by describing John and Jane:
- Their clock radio goes off at 7 AM. The Federal Communications
Commission regulates, not only the airwaves used by their favorite
radio station, but also the content of the programming.
- The radio is powered by electricity, provided by a utility
regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
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Our lives are severely constrained by government
dictum. If "freedom" means making our own decisions, we don't have
much freedom left.
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- The label on their mattress is regulated by the Consumer
Product Safety Commission.
- Their cotton sheets are regulated by the Foreign Agricultural
Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- John uses toothpaste, soap, and shampoo regulated by the Food
and Drug Administration. If his shampoo was tested on animals, those
testing procedures were regulated by the USDA, as well as by National
Science Foundation research protocols.
- The quality of water running out of John's shower is regulated
by the Environmental Protection Agency. John finds it hard to rinse
shampoo out of his hair, due to his low-flow showerhead, mandated
by the Department of Energy.
- Jane must flush their low-flow toilet twice. Its low
capacity is required by the Energy Policy Act.
- Jane's coffee, and the sugar she adds to it, are regulated by the FDA
and USDA, as well as by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
- The USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service artificially inflates
the price of milk Jane uses in her coffee, as well as the price of
cheese, butter, and other dairy products.
- The fruit Jane serves for breakfast is regulated by the EPA,
the FDA, and the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service.
- After breakfast, John drives the children to school. The kids
have to ride in the back seat, because passenger air bags required by
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have killed
children riding in the front. John always buckles his seat belt, but
is no safer with airbags, which NHTSA design standards ensure will
protect adults who do not buckle.
- Baseball helmets the kids take to school are regulated by the
Consumer Product Safety Commission.
- The lunch they eat in the school cafeteria is regulated by the
Department of Agriculture.
- Jane takes her SUV to work. She would have preferred a station
wagon, but auto manufacturers stopped making them when they couldn't
meet National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's fuel economy (or
CAFE) standards. Up to now, SUVs have been exempt from CAFE standards,
but that exemption will end soon.
- Jane takes a roundabout route to her office, because the most
direct route is reserved for "high occupancy vehicles" during rush
hour times. States must provide HOV lanes and roads for carpools, or
forfeit federal highway funds, thanks to the EPA's air quality State
Implementation Plans (SIPs).
- Department of Labor rules, covering employees' benefits where
Jane works, and also civil rights, hiring and firing practices, labor
relations, and occupational safety, are estimated to cost Americans in
excess of $90 billion per year.
- John wants to build a deck for his house, but can't, until he
receives a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. His neighbors
didn't get a permit, and the Corp told them their property was a
wetland.
- For supper, John and Jane bake a frozen pizza. The Department
of Agriculture's Food Safety Inspection Service dictates its
composition: "meat pizza," must be bread-based with tomato sauce,
cheese, and meat toppings, containing cooked meat made from not less
than 15 percent raw meat. Their cheese pizza, however, is regulated by
the Food and Drug Administration.
- After dinner, Jane calls her mother, at rates constrained by
the Federal Communication Commission.
- John fills his pipe, and lights it. His tobacco is regulated by
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, part of the Department
of the Treasury.
- Then, John works on his tax forms, as mandated by federal tax
code. The code is contained in four large books, each of which is
thicker than the Bible. On the other hand, the Code of Federal
Regulations consumes 25 feet of shelf space. It's estimated they cost
an average family more than $8,000 a year, in addition to what John
and Jane pay in income taxes.
Our lives are severely constrained by government dictum. If
"freedom" means making our own decisions, we don't have much freedom
left.
(Information and excerpts from "A Day in the Life," a booklet by
Susan Dudley, Director, Regulatory Studies Program, Mercatus Center,
George Mason University, 3301 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 450,
Arlington, Virginia 22201. Phone: 703-993-4930. Fax: 703-993-4935.
Fred Gielow is the author of "You Don't Say," and
is involved in property rights activities at: www.youdontsay.org.
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