Steps involved in the creation and life cycle of a regulatory agency not necessarily followed in this chronological order.
1. Problem is imagined or even created by politicians most times with the assistance of media. There almost never is a public outcry for government to solve the imagined problem.
2. Politician tries to panic the public by insisting that there is a health and safety crisis that can only be addressed by government.
3.
Politicians pass a bill to form a regulatory agency.
4. A board is created.
5. The board comes from the industry that they are expected to regulate, usually dominant players in the industry.
6. Politicians write ambiguous laws usually after conferring with the industry experts who are more interested in eliminating competition and protecting market share. All of this is done under the ruse of protecting the public
7. Agency is initially staffed by well meaning people with what they believe are good intentions.
8. The well meaning staff know very little about the industry. Not only do they know very little about the industry they usually can’t explain the laws and regulations they are enforcing. Regulations and law are just quoted mechanically without any real understanding of its meaning and intent.
9. The agency regulating the industry will be given the authority to broadly interpret the ambiguous laws written by politicians.
10. The agency devices ways to grow their employee size and expand their regulatory reach by capturing more individuals or businesses that are subject to their regulations
11. The board creates new regulations or reinterprets old regulations and laws that create barriers to entry and drives out small operators.
12. The consumer and the small business owner are the losers. Public health and safety are not improved. Cost rise due to less competition, fees paid to the state and the additional cost associated with regulatory compliance. At the same time regulators pat their self on the back for the pretense of protecting the public while at the same time telling those that are regulated this insulates them from liability.
13. The winners are those that are already dominating the market in the industry. These dominant players will support the regulations under the guise they are concerned about public safety. They enjoy higher profits thru less competition and insulate themselves from competition with the agency’s and lawmaker’s assistance.
The proper role of government is the protection of rights as such it is the only appropriate subject of legislation. The proper function of government is threefold: to protect individuals from criminals, to protect individuals from foreign armies and the courts to settle disputes. What we have now are unelected bureaucrats that instead of protecting individuals do as they please and its citizens must get permission to act from these unelected bureaucrats.
Mike Lynn
Cleveland