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A country of too many laws and rules
Michael Swickard
We are a country of too many laws and rules. There are millions of laws and rules that apply to the citizens of our country. The IRS rules alone can fill a medium-sized room with paper. No one person has read all of the laws and rules of our country, or could read them. These billions of words apply to each of us but there is not enough time to read them all. Many are selectively applied to citizens, often for political reasons.
How did we get so many laws and rules? Lawmakers pass new laws each session on top of the thousands upon thousands of laws already on the books. The media talks about the laws that get passed as if passing more laws was the sole function of the legislators. They must add lots of new laws every session. Additionally, bureaucrats come up with new rules on top of the multitudes of rules already governing our every action. The number and complexity of these are multiplied by our court’s interpretations.
Often these laws and rules are contradictory – such that two Americans doing exactly the same thing are treated quite differently by our government. It was not always this way. In my little slice of heaven we had the Code of the West. This was before the lawyers took over our country.
The Code of the West vs. Japan in 1850
This Code, while not written, was better understood back then than we understand our Constitution now. It started with the notion that each person was to look out for themselves. You were expected to defend yourself, and also those who are weak, when attacked. We were to defend ourselves by shooting back, not by being the first to shoot. We were instructed to be modest, loyal, courageous, never quitters, and absolutely true to our word. A handshake was sufficient for contracts.
With others, the first rule was to never pry into another person’s past. Never touch another person’s horse or hat, and be considerate to everyone. This was the original “you will know it when you see it” as to being considerate or not. There were no examples but none were really needed.
In the Old West we were to say “howdy” to those we meet on the trail, but not talk much. As a rule we knew that we could never make a threat without expecting a fight. As would be expected of these folks, you were to cuss only around other men and never ever would we complain about the cooking.
When it came time for food we knew to remove our hats and guns at the dinner table. And, at dinnertime anyone who wandered into camp was welcome to eat – even your enemies. They treated their enemies with respect.
There are more, again, not written but understood. Violate them and most Westerners at the very least would quit talking to you. The government of the day, what little there was, tried to not change the behavior of citizens except when it was unavoidable. Some citizens might have gone years without hardly any dealings with the government.
Contrast that with a society that was overflowing with government rules.
In Japan, around the year 1600 A.D., Ieyasu Tokugawa became the Shogun. His family rule lasted 250 years without wars or incursions by foreign powers. During that time Japan became very prosperous. In fact, in 1850 there were around 31 million Japanese and only 23 million Americans. That was the good news for the Japanese citizens.
The bad news was that, over the years, the rules controlling citizens were increased and increased and increased such that every aspect of a Japanese citizen’s life was very regulated, from what clothes could be worn to what jobs were available to what food each citizen could have depending on their status. There were no real citizen rights and each Japanese was bound to follow all of the orders given by the authorities. No dissent was tolerated.
America in 2011
While America in 2011 is not exactly Japan in 1850, our nation moves in that direction. We have made an industry out of rules. Some people spend their entire life working on the interpretation of rules that cover the size, consistency, color and water content of garden peas. Perhaps that might be slightly exaggerated, but the rule-handlers in our society multiply like locusts and with the same effect.
From the local codes officers to state inspectors to the federal departments of Energy and Education, etc., we Americans are increasingly subjected to an avalanche of new rules of our behavior. Some of the rules make sense, most do not. Importantly, for every rule we are aware of there are 10 more rules covering us.
The government sticks its nose in our lives at every point, to the point that there is nothing free about our society. It has happened over a great many years a little at a time so that the incredible number and breadth of control is not normally a topic of discussion.
Liberty is the ability to do as you please as long as it does not impact someone else. When we talk about the land of the free we do not reflect that some bureaucrat watches everything we do with an eye to stop us from doing things. Not much liberty remains in this land of a million laws and rules. Can we reverse this trend toward always enacting more rules?
Swickard is co-host of the radio talk show News New Mexico, which airs from 6 to 9 a.m. Monday through Friday on KSNM-AM 570 in Las Cruces and throughout the state through streaming. His e-mail address is michael@swickard.com.
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Mr.Swickard is like a lot of Americans in his vast ignorance of the history of the American West. The “Code of the West” is mostly an invention of pulp novels and Hollywood. In the real old West the actual history wasn’t so nice. Indigenous tribes were slaughtered like sheep for their land. Private lands and public lands were stolen through legislative sleight-of-hand and handed over to the railroads because there were few laws to protect the public. As in the rest of the United States, women’s rights didn’t exist. Slavery didn’t exist in the west, not because the settlers were enlightened, but because the west wasn’t industrialized to the point that slavery would be an economic boon like it was in the south. Had the west been as populated and industrialized as the south when slavery was extant one can be sure that where it made economic sense it would have been an institution. To portray the western United States population as some sort of enlightened group vis-a-vis individual rights and elevated senses of self-governance is rubbish.
Should have typed “It’s EASY to live . . .”
Michael,
It’s to live as a libertarian in a land of rules and laws, no? You choose the rules you want to follow. Speed limits? They’re just advisory, but especially needed for all those “other” drivers who are clueless. Not smart and clever men like you!
Looking at just income and taxes for example. How about this simplified rule: income is every penny that one receives each year, regardless of its source or reason – rent, interest, capital gains, stock options, earned income. Income tax is a tax on all of that income. No exceptions, no deductions, no credits.
But the tax code is written in response tot he endless creativity of Americans. Income means different things to different people. I doubt I even listed a tenth of all definitions of “income” in the tax code.
Same with canned peas. What is a pea? Does it have to be green? Fresh? Cooked in the can? Can one use 50% water and still call it “canned peas”? What if I slip some chick peas in the can? Is that okay?
Of course, in your world of endless free will, we are all honest, God-fearing Americans. We would never swindle each other or the government by cutting corners or adding water to a can, or using inferior thread to sew uniforms. Never!
Wish I lived in your paradise.
Michael: You ask, “Can we reverse this trend toward always enacting more rules?”
Yes we can (where have I heard that slogan before?).
More government = more rules.
Cut the size of government in half = cut the number of rules in half.
America has always been oppressed with numerous laws especially religious laws in early America. Mr Swickard PHD should read the History of American Law by Lawrence M. Friedman. Here is a brief article on colonial America.
http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/spring03/branks.cfm
I wish people would read more history instead of making false generalizations.
https://sites.google.com/site/erikhawkes/Home/the-election-game-show
(now that would be a cool election)
the election game show:
where questions have values like on jeopardy…the harder the question, the greater the value.
candidates then pick which questions they will answer…
the candidates’ answers are scored like in diving or gymnastics…where the level of difficulty affects the final value.
that would be cool.
instead we have select questions for selected candidates and the winner is the best evader.
aaarrrgggghhhhh.
“The government sticks its nose in our lives at every point, to the point that there is nothing free about our society.”. Really Michael? Are you not free to choose your own vocation (biased radio personality)? Are you not free to distribute your ideas through multiple media outlets? Can you not buy the car you can afford, or the food that you would like?
As for our tax structure, the people that you were lauding as heroes a couple of weeks ago, the uber rich, are the ones that have lobbied to complicate it with so many breaks and exemptions. In fact, hasn’t Obama (the person you so roundly criticize on every morning show) lobbied fairly consistently to simplify the tax code (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/06/usa-obama-taxes-idUSWNA559320110406)?
And as for this line, “From the local codes officers to state inspectors to the federal departments of Energy and Education, etc., we Americans are increasingly subjected to an avalanche of new rules of our behavior. Some of the rules make sense, most do not.” please, tell us specifically which ones do not? Traffic laws? Food safety requirements? Regulations requiring hospitals to take care of someone who is shot without checking to see if they have insurance first?
Please, inform is with specifics. You are slowly but surely falling in to the Rush Limbaugh/Glenn Beck strategy of going with your “gut” rather than relying on facts to back up your claims.
Oh, and I’ll tell you about dissent intolerance in Japan in the mid 1800′s. The United States wouldn’t tolerate Japan keeping their borders closed. So we opened them at the point of a gun (http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/teach/ends/opening.htm). How is that for freedom?
Excellent blog Michael. Too many laws undermines the sanctity of home family, freedom and enjoyment of the life God gave us. It is a shame that more people do not study history and its mistakes and learn from it.
For the most part, I agree with Mr. Swickard’s commentary. Nearly everthing we do requires some level of compliance through laws, rules or regulations. I get tired of them. Nevertheless, I’m all for a simplified tax code, but can’t you just see accountants, tax lawyers, and tax software developers swarming Congress over this? Now that would surely up the unemployment rate and bring the economy to its final fall.