Effective Regulation

Regulations are needed because human beings tend toward selfishness and shortsightedness.  Business needs regulation to enable leaders to justify spending money on things like air pollution controls, stopping toxic discharges, and product safety that competitive businesses would not otherwise spend profits on.  Laws become the justifiable excuse used by management to do the right thing.  Regulations are meant to level the business playing field, protect the public and our children’s future.  Without regulations we would still not have seatbelts in our cars.  And with better regulations we would not have a nation in foreclosure, poisonous pet food or toys that kill.  Effective regulations are the same for everyone.  The most corrupt countries and industries use unequal regulation to crush competition and exploit consumers and employees.  Effective regulation requires politically independent leadership.  We must demand that safety and environmental regulations are reasonable, effective and universal.

This is our agenda.  And now we need you.  We need your best most thoughtful ideas about how we as a nation might create laws and establish policies to make these imperatives rise again in American life.  Every so often we’ll all vote on the best ideas and send them to our elected representatives and hold them accountable for real action. It’s past time.  Let’s put the future in our hands.