Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has set up a tip line for the public to make recommendations on deregulation and wasteful spending: doge@mail.house.gov.
I’m sure many of us can immediately think of regulations that impose a significant and unnecessary burden on the public. Car seat regulations come to mind immediately as burdensome for growing families. And many of us in different fields will have insights into very particular regulations that don’t serve the public interest.
I thought it could be good to have a thread here on Sanityville where we could bring together recommendations of which regulations we’d be most grateful to see Mr. Trump overturn. As well as what wasteful government spending we’re aware of, but might otherwise go unnoticed, if no one draws attention to it.
If there’s enough of a response, in a few months, I’ll compile replies to this thread into a professionally-formatted email, along with however else I can figure out to contact Mr. Musk’s new department. And/or forward it to someone in our circles who might have more ability to make direct input to the government. Of course I can’t guarantee our voice has any chance of being heard, but it seems worth a shot.
Um, yeah, but “one should not take down a fence before understanding why it was put up in the first place”.
E.g., in terms of car seat regulations. I don’t have a family, but I did start my working life looking at road safety initiatives, and at that time, car seats were a major issue. Five minutes in Google will throw up a number of studies as to their effectiveness (I am out of touch with this area, but still maintain a passing interest).
I have not read the full paper that was shared there, but I don’t buy the title. As you grow your family you will have to grow your transportation (that is, if you want to travel). I don’t see how car seats in themselves are the condom. Buckling your kids in always takes time and can be frustrating especially when in a hurry. But so are stop signs, and red lights, and police giving speeding tickets.
The real need are safe vehicles that are conducive for larger families (like 9-seat minibuses that do not meet EPA regs, as referenced in the thread). Maybe Elon will make the mini-Musk? Cyber-bus? But first he ought to make sure his cars aren’t bombs on wheels.
So, I too see car seats as a Chesterton fence. I’m thankful for them, especially for infants and toddlers. Even if it is hypocritical, at least car seat regulations show the sanctity of life. Perhaps booster seat regulations need modified, age to end being lowered? But I don’t have stats on that.
As for regulations in general:
A few years ago I went out to a small Georgia town to visit a pastor-friend. We’re talking DEEP south. It was common for folks to not use their seat-belts. They would leave them clicked in and just sit on top of them, my pastor-friend and his wife included. The ‘war of northern aggression’ is still fought in many places. Seat-belts are seen as the guvun-mint not mindin’ its bisnis, instead of being a loving discipline of our nursing fathers.
Of course, there are ludicrous regulations. Philip Howard’s book the Death of Common Sense is a testament to some of these. But we must be careful. Again, Chesterton’s fence.
If any other deregulation ideas come to my mind I will share here.
If the economic analysis in that paper is correct, car seat laws likely kill more babies than they save. (Assume 57 saved per year, and 6000 not born. How many of those in the not born category will have been aborted?)
In spite of my doubts about many studies, I see no reason to dismiss their estimates, particularly since I have seen so many signs that it is correct.
With three kids, driving around town, and even traveling, is no big deal in a regular sedan or even a tiny Honda Fit. Unless you require car seats. Then you have to have a minivan. Remember that we aren’t talking about families with 5 kids going to 6. That wouldn’t make any statistical difference as there are so few families that size today. We are talking about regular families with two kids not feeling like they can have a third.
Dear brothers, I was not intending to blithely dismiss all regulations surrounding child safety restraints or seatbelts – only gesturing in the direction of the “Car Seats as Contraception” discourse here on Sanityville, and the multiplication of regulation about exactly how the car seat must be designed to fit children of this-and-that height and weight and age range, etc. I apologize for the lack of clarity. I intend to look more specifically into this issue later, but ultimately I feel that casting a wide net is appropriate for a public tip line, since any regulations to which the disgruntled public draws attention will (hopefully) be more specifically reviewed by more qualified people in the government.
As for Chesterton’s fence: What if your neighbor had built a labyrinth of fences all over the neighborhood, making it difficult to even walk to your mailbox and back; and you knew for a fact that he gets a kickback from every fence he builds, and on top of that he often builds a fence just for the fun of it? That seems more analogous to the situation with federal regulations more broadly.