A policy is just another word for law, rule, regulation, etc. They are supposed to help prevent problems, but sometimes, just their very existence creates more problems than they are worth.
There are a lot of things policies and laws could or should do, but often don’t. My personal opinion on laws (policies) are that they should only be used when there is a demonstrated and clearly explained reason for their existence and they should motivate people to become better or discourage people from becoming worse. There are good laws and there are bad laws both in terms of the intent behind them and the application (enforcement issues, funding, etc). My main concern, in this post, is in the intent.
Overall, when it comes to intent, I think laws should encourage people to “become better”, that is, do things that help preserve their freedom, justice, human rights, health, help the environment, and encourage them to become self sufficient (including saving money and not getting ripped off by huge corporations). There are probably a lot of other things that laws do (including settling disputes), but for the purpose of this post, I am talking big picture here. What they SHOULD do. They should also DISCOURAGE things that take away from these ideals. Of course, many times laws may come into conflict with one or more of these ideals, and these ideals make a lot of assumptions about people’s core values. And that’s where controversy comes in. But I’m not going to talk about very controversial laws, I am going to talk about basic, common sense laws that should exist, but don’t, or laws that shouldn’t exist, but do.
For instance, did you know that in Colorado, there is no license to sell tobacco? It’s only one of 7 states in the US that doesn’t require one. But you have to have a license to cut hair, you have to have a license to sell alcohol, and you have to have a license for your dog! But the deadliest consumer product, no such thing. Most people already think this law exists, but it doesn’t.
And as for an example of a bad law: how about not allowing front yard gardens, or backyard chickens? Don’t we value people’s ability to be self-sufficient, or to use their own property in a way that they so desire? It doesn’t harm anyone else to allow these things, except in people’s 1950’s view of the world.
How about not having bike lanes? A lack of a law is still a law. It is the norm, it is the default setting. By not requiring bike lanes (but having plenty of roadways) we are saying that we value cars more than bikes. Shouldn’t we be encouraging people to get on bikes what with the obesity epidemic and global warming buzzing all the news outlets?
We recently experienced a good example of a bad policy in place, an example where too much regulation has made doing the right thing harder. My husband has an old Corvette. We decided not to drive it to save gas, maintenance costs and for other reasons. Since he hadn’t used it for about 8 months, when the registration paperwork came in, we decided not to do it. Why pay another bill on something we weren’t using? We had effectively taken a vehicle (a not-so-fuel efficient vehicle I might add) off the road. Shouldn’t that be a good thing? Fewer emissions, less gas consumption, saving money, etc, etc. Well, his commuter car recently ended up having some troubles, so he needed to drive his Corvette in order to get to work. But before he could, he had to re-register it, right? Because we have to keep track of all the vehicles on the road (for reasons that I don’t think include the ones I think listed, but I digress…).
Well, the car was off the road for about 5 months without registration, shouldn’t you only need to have it registered for the time that it is on the road? Isn’t that the point? But no, they decided to charge DOUBLE the cost (a whole slew of fees/fines) of the registration fee that we had a few months ago BECAUSE we hadn’t driven it (or registered it). Simply, it was a money grab. I get tired of laws that are simply money grabs with no good reason behind them. You should be required to demonstrate a serious need for a law instead of just some randomness or way to steal money.
After situations like these, I can see why some people would just make a blanket statement that we need “less government”, or “more personal freedoms” and I agree to a point. However, I also know how good laws, policies, legislation (whatever you want to call them) can influence people for the better -often by regulating the humongous corporations or even the government itself! The huge corporations know this and they work very hard to pass policies that will enable them to make more and more money, or to block policies that may affect their businesses – often times at the cost of many of our ideals. They even send their high up execs to serve on governmental cabinets and in quite a few cases to run for office themselves! You can’t just say government is corrupt any more than you can say a corporation is inherently driven by greed…They are one and the same, and they make these “rules” we live by. A former CEO of a chemical company might run the EPA for example…or a former oil man turned vice president might encourage us to go to war to secure an oil region…or the entire banking industry may back certain political parties so that they can get bailed out…etc, etc.
Individuals need to know the power of policies instead of making blanket statements about “more education, less legislation” or “less government” or any other iteration of this. Policies serve a purpose. Policies are powerful (but usually mainly to those in power). They change behaviors for better or for worse. The unfortunate effect of too much regulation or bureaucracy is that it often hinders people from thinking creatively outside of the box in order to solve problems or become innovative, and so, overall, they need to be used carefully, selectively, and not as broad spectrum controls of people. When everything you want to do is illegal and you aren’t hurting anyone, then the line has been crossed with policies.
I heard it best said that bureaucracies are there to control people when we don’t trust what they are doing. If you trust your people, you are more willing to allow a certain level of vulnerability -and therefore creativity.
People should question each policy or law or authority. There should be a certain level of rebelliousness that is allowed in society because laws need to be able to change with the times. Slaves that ran away from their masters broke the law, but they also questioned the law and eventually the law was changed. Don’t be afraid to fight unjust laws, change laws, or make new ones. It is really the only way to regain some of your power from “the man”.
Vehicle registration fees are a “cash cow” for local governments. The fees have little to do with the costs of monitoring vehicles, the highway patrol, even road construction (covered more by gax tax and feds). The fees rise because the politicians see it as easy, it is regressive (more impact on poor than rich) and can be done under the nose of most of us taxpayers.
We live in a strange country of “laws”. In many states, a swat team of 10 armed guys can bust into your house, raid your bathroom for a single pot plant, and arrest you and take you away. However, in these same states, you could have an arsenal of weapons, including military grade guns, which could kill thousands of people, and it is perfectly legal.
Such are laws in the U.S.
Laws do get changed, but it usually the left and right coast states that bring change in this country. If one wants to live in a place where unjustice can be rectified, it would probably be the only solution: move.
Annie,
I totally agree. Sometimes I wonder about our policies and who we are protecting ourselves from.