Get the Heck out of Our Way!: Examples of Government Regulations That Are Eroding Our Freedoms, Holding Back the Economy, and Costing Us Money and What We Can Do About It

By Dale W. Cox

Government regulations are increasingly holding back economic development, inflating the prices of most consumer goods, and reducing our freedoms.

Dale W. Cox, and his wife, LeAnne, know that firsthand as they have operated businesses of various types throughout the years.

What theyve found is rules and regulations that constantly change and get more complicated, which hurts their businesses, their family, and their customers. In this book, Cox gives a detailed account of how these regulations make it more expensive to do business, boost inflation, discourage innovation, curb economic growth, and reduce personal and business freedom.

The examples of how regulations affect us from a cost and choice standpoint are illustrations that everyone can relate to, including buying a gallon of milk or a car.

Coxs goal is to educate as many people as he can so we can move forward as a nation to restore freedom by supporting elected officials and others willing to do something about it.

Its time to demand that we keep the fruits of our labor, which starts with telling meddling regulators to Get the Heck Out of Our Way!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Jan 19, 2018
• ISBN: 9781480853485

Dale W. Cox

Dale W. Cox earned a bachelor of science and master of science in food science at Brigham Young University. He has worked more than twenty-three years in the food industry, primarily in new product development and process improvement. With his wife, LeAnne, and others, he has run several businesses, including various real estate investment ventures, a mobile home park, and land development. He lives with his wife and their three children in North Carolina.

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Copyright © 2018 Dale W. Cox.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Archway Publishing

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN: 978-1-4808-5346-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-5347-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-5348-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017918899

Archway Publishing rev. date: 01/11/2018

This book is dedicated to the citizens of

The United States of America who, if sufficiently awakened, I know have the will and intelligence to correct serious governmental overreach that is destroying our country, thereby regaining and then preserving lost freedoms for ourselves and for our children.

I wish to give special thanks to my wife, LeAnne, for her encouragement

throughout the project, including listening to me when I was stuck and her help in

editing and critiquing.

Author’s Note, 18 December 2017:

This book was written starting in February of 2016 with the first full editing round completed in June of 2017. After going through the publication process, it appears the book will be available to the public in January of 2018. This time frame covers the end of the Obama Administration through the beginning of the Trump Administration, a very volatile time in politics. Since the first draft was finished some of the areas discussed in this book have been receiving attention, including an elimination of many regulations. The country is already seeing the positive effects as businesses are responding and the economy is speeding up. Even if this trend of regulatory relief continues, we have a very long way to go to achieve the freedom that was experienced even a short time ago. It is a much longer path to get back to where local policies have more of a daily effect on our lives than those of the federal government. One of the primary messages of this book is that a reeducation is needed so that more people will understand the effect over-regulation has on all of us. With this understanding the hope is we will provide encouragement and support to appropriate policies, actions, and leaders, and resist the siren song of others that inevitably try to entice us with incorrect principles. Progress can be made but erased very quickly if enough of us don’t comprehend what is required.

Contents

CHAPTER 1 What Is Going On?!

RUNNING A BUSINESS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK

BACKGROUND

THREE NOTES

THE GET THE HECK OUT OF MY WAY MANTRA

CHAPTER 2 The Size of the Beast

BACKGROUND

Human Nature

The Flip Side

THE REGULATION PROBLEM

History

Organizing the Federal Government

A Department Explosion

The True Size of the Beast

The Amount of Regulation

Total Size

Number of Federal Employees

The States

Number of Outside Hired Contractors

Isn’t the Government Producing Jobs Then? Infloyment Defined.

What Does This Mean?

THE REGULATION COSTS THAT THE CONSUMER PAYS (INFLATION)

What Is the Cost?

Salaries and Benefits of Federal versus Civil Workers

Spending

The Real Cost to the Economy and Our Freedom

How a New Law Becomes Something That Affects the Public

How a New Regulation Affects the Cost of Things We Buy

Short-term Effects

Long-term Effects

Are Regulations Protections?

CONSIDER THE ALTERNATIVE: FREEDOM

Ranting

Back to Freedom

What Can We Do Now?

THE GET THE HECK OUT OF MY WAY MANTRA

CHAPTER 3 Buying Breakfast Cereal

BACKGROUND

The Past

THE REGULATION PROBLEM

Today

THE REGULATION COSTS THAT THE CONSUMER PAYS (INFLATION)

You Are Paying for It

CONSIDER THE ALTERNATIVE: FREEDOM

Ranting

Back to Freedom

Cantaloupe

Safe Quality Food (SQF)

People Are Smart

THE GET THE HECK OUT OF MY WAY MANTRA

CHAPTER 4 Electricity—It’s The Juice, Baby!

THE REGULATION PROBLEM

Your Power Bill

State Regulations

Federal Regulations

Why?

THE REGULATION COSTS THAT THE CONSUMER PAYS (INFLATION)

CONSIDER THE ALTERNATIVE: FREEDOM

THE GET THE HECK OUT OF MY WAY MANTRA

CHAPTER 5 Mobile Home Park Ownership

BACKGROUND

THE REGULATION PROBLEM

Owning a Mobile Home Park: Education on the Go

Selling Homes

State Requirements

Loans and the SAFE and Dodd-Frank Acts

Electric Distribution

Companionship Animals

Bonus Section: A Little More Dodd-Frank

Ranting about the CFPB

THE REGULATION COSTS THAT THE CONSUMER PAYS (INFLATION)

Inflation

CONSIDER THE ALTERNATIVE: FREEDOM

Make-Believe

THE GET THE HECK OUT OF MY WAY MANTRA

CHAPTER 6 Getting Hired

BACKGROUND

THE REGULATION PROBLEM

The Requirements

The Tip of the Iceberg

Ranting

Back to the Tip of the Iceberg

Penalties

Mens Rea

THE REGULATION COSTS THAT THE CONSUMER PAYS (INFLATION)

Consequences

Doesn’t This Weed Out the Weak?

CONSIDER THE ALTERNATIVE: FREEDOM

Children in the Workplace?

Minimum Wage

The Economy

THE GET THE HECK OUT OF MY WAY MANTRA

CHAPTER 7 Living Somewhere

BACKGROUND

THE REGULATION PROBLEM

The Clean Water Act

Local Permitting

Another Personal Example: Subdividing Land, The Process

Rezoning Plus Fees, the First Project

The Second Project

Crossing a Stream

Disturbing the Earth

Cold Feet

Ranting

Back to Disturbing the Earth

Inconsistency

THE REGULATION COSTS THAT THE CONSUMER PAYS (INFLATION)

Noble County Ditch Troubles

Sackett vs. the Environmental Protection Agency

Other Considerations

CONSIDER THE ALTERNATIVE: FREEDOM

The Case for Local Oversight

Our Project, Reimagined Under Freedom

THE GET THE HECK OUT OF MY WAY MANTRA

CHAPTER 8 Buying a Vehicle

BACKGROUND

Trying to Buy a Truck

THE REGULATION PROBLEM

Smog

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Ranting: Science versus Real Science, and What the Heck Is Settled Science?

Opinionated Science Becomes Law

The States Get Busy

THE REGULATION COSTS THAT THE CONSUMER PAYS (INFLATION)

You Are Paying For It

Emissions Systems

CONSIDER THE ALTERNATIVE: FREEDOM

Make-Believe

BONUS SECTION

Safety

THE GET THE HECK OUT OF MY WAY MANTRA

CHAPTER 9 Putting Gas in Your Car

BACKGROUND

THE REGULATION PROBLEM

Clean Air Act (EPA)

Energy Independence and Security Act

Taxes

Ethanol in Your Gasoline

Is It Working?

THE REGULATION COSTS THAT THE CONSUMER PAYS (INFLATION)

Were There Unintended Consequences?

Land Use Change

Food Prices

Corn Wagon

Equipment Failures

Summary

CONSIDER THE ALTERNATIVE: FREEDOM

Make-Believe

Summary

THE GET THE HECK OUT OF MY WAY MANTRA

CHAPTER 10 A Gallon of Milk

BACKGROUND

THE REGULATION PROBLEM

Milk Pricing

Support Programs

Disaster Relief Programs

Dairy Margin Protection Program for Dairy Producers

Federal Milk Marketing Order Program

Professional Agencies versus Government Regulation

Their Own Initiatives

Fighting Regulations

Associations Also Lobby for Their Interests

Summary

THE REGULATION COSTS THAT THE CONSUMER PAYS (INFLATION)

The Costs of Lobbying

Government Programs

CONSIDER THE ALTERNATIVE: FREEDOM

Make-Believe

Summary

THE GET THE HECK OUT OF MY WAY MANTRA

CHAPTER 11 Obamacare!

BACKGROUND

THE REGULATION PROBLEM

Our Obamacare Story

Ranting

Back to Our Obamacare Story

THE REGULATION COSTS THAT THE CONSUMER PAYS (INFLATION)

Cost to the Economy

Obamacare Direct Costs

Summary

CONSIDER THE ALTERNATIVE: FREEDOM

Make-Believe

THE GET THE HECK OUT OF MY WAY MANTRA

CHAPTER 12 What Can You Do?

SUMMARY OF WHERE WE ARE

Personal Responsibility

Listening to the Wrong People

Careful Education

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Educate Yourself

The News

Books

Educate Others

Be Vocal About What You Know

Talk to Your Elected Representatives

Questions We Should Require Our Elected Representatives to Ask Before Voting For or Introducing a New Regulation

Repeal the 17th Amendment

Refuse to Be Silenced by Political Correctness

Be a Leader Yourself

Convention of States

CONCLUSION

THE GET THE HECK OUT OF MY WAY MANTRA

CHAPTER 1

What Is Going On?!

RUNNING A BUSINESS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Should it really be this difficult to run a business in the United States of America? Regulations have become so numerous and extreme that it can be easy to forget what your business actually is and you start to think that complying with regulations is the business. Almost as an afterthought, there is the realization that there are customers and a product or service for sale.

I fell into this trap with my very first business venture and found myself thinking how mature and impressive I was, running this business. Then I realized I was spending most of my time doing things that had nothing to do with what supplied a product and fulfilled a consumer need but what law and/or regulations required. It was busyness, not business.

From my own experience and continued education, I have since come to realize that the regulatory environment we live in is holding back our economy, reducing our freedoms in the process, and contributing to inflation. If the government would get the heck out of the way, I believe many of the problems with the economy and our society would be greatly reduced or even disappear.

As the miracle of the Constitution originally intended, in order of decreasing influence in our everyday lives should be local, state, and then the federal government. The federal government had very limited powers. Most were reserved for the state and even more for the people themselves. This arrangement allows for local flair, while primarily the state governments make sure constitutional freedoms are maintained throughout their state. The federal government militarily defends the entire country and, in a very restricted fashion, oversees matters among states, intervening and regulating only in very specific and limited ways. Laws that were written to affect the entire country were to be few and far between, easily understood, known, and vetted publicly before being passed.

This remained the case for many years, allowing the United States of America to become unique in the world and to rise to prominence in historically record time. It was a place where immigrants could come, start with nothing, and become as successful as they wanted to be, all by the sweat of their own brow. And they gladly worked extreme hours to become successful. They enjoyed it. They were thriving, failing, and thriving again because the fruits of their labors were theirs to enjoy. There was very little holding anyone back who had an idea and wanted to run with it.

However, there was a turning point during the Great Depression. Since then, steadily and with increasing speed, the power base has shifted to the federal level. As a result, we now live in a country where the fruits of hard labor are forcibly taken and used for any number of things, many of which we would never choose to spend our money on. One of the largest federal expenditures is taking money from those who earn it and giving it to those who do not. This is a long way from what made the United States a shining light.

Our light still shines, but it is not near so bright. I feel that one of the reasons it still shines is relative. That is, most of the other lights around the world have practically gone out. This type of governmental overreach was precisely what many of those coming to this part of the world were fleeing.

What is worse, the regulation industry, because that is what it has become, has grown exponentially since the Great Depression. Today we are becoming more and more enslaved by government and the wishes of those who would be our masters. Those are strong words, but in many respects, it is true. From my own personal experience, if the government would get out of our way, there is no limit to where we as a people could take our country and ourselves.

There must be change to the current environment for that to happen. It is within our power to get back to what government was constitutionally intended to do, to protect our freedoms and our liberties and not much else.

WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK

I have five primary things I would like to accomplish through this book:

1. Demonstrate through examples how pervasive and oppressing governmental regulations have become, including examples of my own frustrating business experience.

2. Show through these examples how these regulations add to the cost of everything about our modern lives, contributing greatly to inflation, discouraging innovation, and holding down economic growth.

3. Wake up as many people as I can to what has happened—and continues to happen—in our country and to instill a vision of what could be if greater freedom were restored to the United States of America and the government were not so much in our way.

4. Persuade as many of these newly awakened people to become active enough to want to do something about the problem, provide ideas and tools that can be used to actually do it, and inspire them to support elected officials and others who are trying to do something about it. Let the reeducation begin!

5. Make money. I suppose this goes without saying, and I am not ashamed of this. My family and I have expenses, and I pride myself on staying off the welfare rolls. However, while it is financially necessary right now—and even if it were not, I still expect to harvest the fruit of my labors and then use that fruit however I see fit—it is not what drove me to become a first-time author. The other reasons are those that drive me. I am concerned for the future of our country.

BACKGROUND

First, a little background is in order so you know where I am coming from. Just about as soon as I finished my master’s degree, landed my first job, and started working as a professional employee, I realized that I wanted to work for myself. I had what I found was called an entrepreneurial spirit, which I had not previously recognized or even really heard of. That was in 1994, by which time our first child was four years old. Since then, while still enjoying my professional jobs, my wife and I have been playing with several businesses on the side, always with the goal of being able to work for ourselves and better control our own time. We had no real desire to be wealthy, but to have sufficient monies for our own needs and to be comfortable enough where we could help others, including our own family.

It has been a strange road for us, and as of this writing, we are still not very successful in a monetary sense. I am really not a very good businessperson, as you will see, but have found that I enjoy the learning process in this area. We have definitely found at least one business we should not be in. Neither of us had any background or training in running businesses or even thinking in that way. Just having the mind-set to see opportunities is something we are not trained to perceive in school. We seem to be trained to be employees rather than potential employers.

For example, straight out of school we purchased a fixer-upper, our first house, on a decent-sized piece of land. It was not enough to subdivide, but it had a lot of road-frontage. The landowner behind us approached us fairly early on and indicated a willingness to sell us some land to allow us to subdivide. We were busy with my first job and fixing the house. We had other bills to pay and really did not give the idea any consideration. We could have made a bunch of cash, and the guy we sold our fixed house to did subdivide and probably did make that money. In retrospect, it is obvious, and we kick ourselves for not having tried harder to take advantage of the opportunity, but we didn’t think that way back then.

We have come to recognize seeds of this entrepreneurial instinct in some of the things we did. My wife was probably the first one. She is very talented at making different types of crafts, including dolls, painted themed decorations for the home, quilts, and the like. She immediately set about earning money this way by selling her creations at craft fairs while we were still in school. My first experience was becoming interested in tropical fish as a hobby around this same time. Supplies were very expensive, so I found out who the local wholesaler was that supplied many of the pet stores in the area. I was told we had to have a business in order to obtain supplies there, so we formed one, Cox Hobbies. All we ever did was buy and then sell to ourselves at wholesale and to a couple of friends who had similar interests. We did track sales tax and paid it to the state for these sales—our first experience in working with government in a business sense.

After a relatively short time working in my chosen profession as a food scientist, Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kyosaki and Sharon Lechter was published. I found it in an airport bookstore while waiting between flights and couldn’t put it down. What I took as the basic message from the book was that financial security could be found only in becoming financially self-reliant, independent of being an employee. This rang true for me and crystallized much of what I had been feeling and thinking. Ever since then, my wife and I have been trying to become financially independent in various ways.

We have tried several things, mostly related to real estate, and have found the government making it increasingly difficult. When we started to understand a business, new regulations completely changed the business model. Until this time, we had no idea what was actually happening on the front lines of the economy as a result of some of these ill-thought new laws and subsequent regulations that were coming from the government. After talking about it with some of my friends and family members who work in different industries, I found they were having very similar problems.

Soon I realized that, almost everywhere in the economy, a regulatory explosion was making everyday American business owners miserable while just trying to make a buck. I knew the effect it was having on me and comprehended it was a definite drag on what I could otherwise be doing, much of which would stimulate the economy. It’s like trying to take steps forward with increasing numbers of