In a victory for long-suffering champions of less government interference, President Trump just armed the heads of federal agencies with the freedom to cut onerous regulations as a way to get the nation’s crippled economy back on track.
This president has a been a breath of fresh air when it comes to regulations, gleefully chucking away hundreds of pages of them at a time. It’s really nice to see Republicans learning how to play the “never let a crisis go to waste” game for once, but focusing the effort on something that’s actually good for the country, like a sweeping effort to wipe out business-crushing regulations.
Tyler wrote a great piece about the move yesterday and has more here:On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that gives his cabinet “tremendous power to cut regulation.” The order gives America’s flailing economy, still half-shuttered by the coronavirus crisis and government lockdowns, important relief as the effort to reopen picks up steam in different states.
Trump signed the order in a cabinet meeting. Before he signed the order, he explained that it involves “instructing federal agencies to use any and all authority to waive, suspend, and eliminate unnecessary regulations that impede economic recovery.”
This provides a stark contrast in the ways that Republicans and Democrats would prefer to “help” businesses and industries during this crisis.
The Democrats would prefer a seemingly endless series of bailouts and loans, all of which would make businesses beholden to the federal government.
By making over-regulation Public Enemy Number One, President Trump’s Republican Party wants to remove layers of federal chains that they believe would hinder a recovery that absolutely cannot take too long if people’s lives aren’t going to be permanently ruined. If the government intervenes by getting government out of the way so that people can make more money, then I’ve finally found some government interference that I like.
Note that the order gives agencies the power to “waive, suspend, and eliminate unnecessary regulations,” which, against my better judgement, is giving me some hope. It is nigh on impossible to get the government to undo something once it’s done, especially at the federal level. They’re all power-mad and unwilling to cede any authority they’ve managed to grab. That’s what has been making so many of us nervous about the various suspensions of rights in the name of safety the past couple of months.
Regulations give bureaucrats a reason to exist. Endless paperwork. Compliance checkups. More work for more lawyers. Regulations create a well-paid Heaven for them that they never want to end. The mere mention of deregulation gives them night terrors.
There are a lot of us who are focused on the “eliminate unnecessary regulations” phrase and hoping beyond hope that there will be a lot of that. Of course, expecting bureaucrats to do what’s best for the country rather than themselves is a bit of a stretch. There’s also the fact that people like me will tell you that most regulations are unnecessary. Yes, I know that I may be exaggerating a bit. People on the other end of the spectrum will have you believe that people like me are anti all regulations and want everyone to die from eating bad hamburger.
There is probably a balance to be struck but the bureaucrats have been winning the hyper-regulation battle for a long time now. We’re long past overdue for a big correction.
With a stroke of his pen, President Trump has given American businesses and industries some light on the horizon in the form of freedom from burdensome regulations that could save millions who are teetering on the brink financially. It is too much to hope that we’ll ever be free of federal over-regulation, but this is very much worth celebrating.