Sunday, February 19, 2012

Government Regulations and Bureaucrats

I had to laugh at a TV news piece covering an incident where a schoolteacher or school administrator made the decision the lunch packed for a child was not healthy.  The mother had packed what sounded like a healthy lunch to me. 

The lunch included a turkey sandwich and several other

things that sounded healthy to me.  The child then bought a school lunch, which included chicken nuggets.  How are chicken nuggets better than a turkey sandwich?  

I think it is ridiculous that a schoolteacher or school administrator had the authority to make this decision.  I also thought it was ridiculous that an incident like this made national news for several days, but maybe it is not so ridiculous.  Maybe this should make us aware of how easy we can lose our personal freedoms.  Sometimes we are not even aware we are losing our freedoms until it is too late. 

This incident points out in a very clear way the dangers of growing government and government regulations.  It also points out the dangers of giving low-level bureaucrats too much power. 

There is a saying, “Power Corrupts.”  Even if this is not true, I think power can go to any bureaucrat’s head.  I also feel there may be a tendency for some bureaucrats to justify their job and power. 

Here is an example on local bureaucrats from my book, How to Find the Right Business.

“Once in a previous life, I was in the construction business.  When we would design a large project we would always intentionally remove a couple obvious things from the plans before we submitted the plans to the appropriate planning and zoning department. 

        For example, we would remove an obviously required sidewalk along the street from the plans.  The zoning commission could then tell us to add the sidewalk.  By leaving a couple obvious things like the sidewalk for the planning commission to find, they could do their job and everyone was happy. 

        The sidewalk was always on the master plans, but if we submitted the competed, correct plans, the planning commission would have to find something else wrong to justify their job.”

It is ridiculous we have to play games like this to work with local bureaucrats.  Unfortunately, that is the way things are today with government and business. 

As government grows larger and larger, our personal freedoms become more and more restricted.   It is easy to ignore this trend because many of these changes may not affect us personally.

The danger is that one day, expanding government will affect YOU personally, and it may be too late.  You will have lost some of your freedom.  Get involved now. 

The 10^th Amendment specifically limits to powers of our Federal Government.  We should start to observe it, before it is too late.