CEI - What Would Libertarian Government Look Like? CEI Offers Some Steps to Find Out

Agenda for Congress Lists Ways to Streamline Government, Aid Economy, Promote Innovation

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 12, 2013 – Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne wrote in a recent column that if true small-government, libertarian policies are the best way to organize society, then why doesn’t a single country on Earth embrace this framework.

At the Competitive Enterprise Institute, we say, “Let’s give it a try.” How about, as we survey a country in which the IRS is targeting right-of-center groups, the National Security Agency is monitoring our phone calls and the government is tapping phone lines of reporters, we stop and consider a few steps to reduce the size, cost and scope of government?

CEI lays out a few such steps in Avoiding the Regulatory Cliff: A Bipartisan Agenda to Restore Limited Government and Revive America’s Economy. The publication, produced every two years, lays out practical steps Congress can take to reduce the burden of government, curb costly regulations and increase liberty, prosperity and economic vitality.

Some items within the publication, such as an essay that calls for rejecting the precautionary principle as a threat to technological progress, require a change of thought. Others, such as a piece that calls for improving food safety by promoting consumer awareness and choice, require a change in how government informs us about research, risk and other matters. Others, such as a piece on ending bailouts and government ownership in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, General Motors, AIG and other entities, require a change in approach.

But many amount to reforming regulations and how they are developed and keeping citizens in mind when promulgating the rules and laws we all must live by.

For instance, Wayne Crews, CEI’s Vice President for Policy and Director of Technology Studies, lays out six achievable steps to slow the regulatory juggernaut:

• Establish a bipartisan Regulatory Reduction Commission to survey and purge outdated or poorly functioning rules.

• Develop a sunsetting schedule for new regulations and agencies.

• Approve major regulations with an up-or-down vote.

• Publish a regulatory report card alongside the federal budget.

• Require agencies to report costs so Congress can measure effectiveness.

• Have agencies and the Office of Management and Budget rank rules’ effectiveness and recommend the least-effective for elimination.

Other suggestions would guide legislative initiatives, such as:

• Curb crop subsidies, separate nutrition and energy from the farm bill and end the sugar program.

• Streamline testing of new medicines and medical devices, so new treatments can reach patients quicker, and protect intellectual property to encourage pharmaceutical innovation.

• End corporate welfare in all forms – subsidies, tariffs, regulations that favor the powerful, the Export-Import Bank, the Economic Development Administration and others.

• Roll back Sarbanes-Oxley to make it easier for startups to go public.

• Rethink anti-consumer antitrust legislation.

• Reject content regulation on TV and other media outlets.

• Privatize passenger rail, encourage private investment in freight rail and liberalize air travel.

• Spend money collected for highways on highways, not mass transit; and embrace tolling so highway users pay their fair share.

• Bring back private contractors for airport security. They did not fail on 9/11, and the Transportation Security Administration has been a disaster from the start.

The publication includes nearly 70 pages of productive solutions to roll back the overgrown regulatory state, and thus provide certainty and the proper incentives to American businesses and entrepreneurs, who are the true engines of our nation’s prosperity.

“Our task is to get Congress to act like market-growing gardeners rather than blueprint-writing engineers,” said Lawson Bader, president of CEI. “The better role for public policy is to ensure underlying rules of the game that maintain the openness and dynamism of established markets and encourage the evolution of decentralized, self-organizing markets where they do not yet exist.”

► Read Avoiding the Regulatory Cliff: A Bipartisan Agenda to Restore Limited Government and Revive America's Economy here.

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CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information about CEI, please visit our website, cei.org, and blogs, Globalwarming.org and OpenMarket.org.  Follow CEI on Twitter! Twitter.com/ceidotorg.

CEI Today: EPA's attack on power plants, coal, and federalism

EPA POWER PLANT REGS - MARLO LEWIS

Globalwarming.org: EPA’s ‘Carbon Pollution Standard’: Bait-and-Fuel-Switch

Congressional efforts to rein in EPA — particularly Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval to overturn EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Rule and Sen. James Inhofe’s Energy Tax Prevention Act – would have gained more traction had EPA fessed up in 2009, 2010, or even 2011 that, come 2012, it would promulgate CO2 performance standards that no commercially viable coal plant could meet.

It’s an old story, but one that can’t be told too often. EPA is legislating climate policy – implementing an agenda the people’s representatives have not approved and would reject if put to a vote.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) has vowed to kill the “carbon pollution standard” via a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval (Greenwire, subscription required). For those of us who still respect the separation of powers, ’tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.

 > Read the full commentary on Globalwarming.org

> Interview Marlo Lewis

ANTI-INDUSTRIAL LEGAL COMPLEX  - WILLIAM YEATMAN Globalwarming.org: Energy Policymaking in the Obama Age: The Anti-Industrial Legal Complex EPA is now waging a regulatory war on the coal industry. The Agency is imposing a series of senseless regulations that serve no public health purpose, and whose only function seems to be to price coal out of the electricity market. CEI's William Yeatman points to Georgia as a prime example of EPA and environmentalist intervention. In order to meet the Peach State’s growing demand, a consortium of local utilities decided to build two coal fired power plants. Twice, Georgia public officials approved air permits for one coal fired power plant in Washington County. And twice, these State decisions were effectively invalidated by environmentalist lawyers, who challenged the permits based on nonsensical anti-coal regulations issued by President Obama’s EPA. As a result of this legal wrangling, the utility consortium agreed to cancel plans for its other planned power plant in Ben Hill County. Now, the environmentalists will launch a fresh attack in the courts on the remaining plant.  > Read the full commentary on Globalwarming.org > Interview William Yeatman

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CEI Today: DOJ's Apple lawsuit, union corruption, and EPA's fight against federalism

DOJ SUES APPLE  - WAYNE CREWS & RYAN YOUNG

CEI.org: Justice Department Should Drop Apple Lawsuit

The Justice Department sued Apple and several publishers on Wednesday, alleging the firms colluded over e-book pricing. CEI policy experts Wayne Crews and Ryan Young believe the lawsuit is a mistake.

Wayne Crews, Vice President for Policy: “The complaint against Apple seems to be that collusion and smoke-filled rooms paved the way to a deal by which Apple gets a 30 percent cut of the publishers' e-books sold for Apple devices, while other vendors are forbidden from selling below that pre-specified price. Such ordinary business deals, you see, involve a now-disparaged free market instrument called a ‘contract.’

“This arrangement appears to have been a normal response to Amazon's deep discounts of e-books below physical book prices. DoJ's solution is presumably to stop free enterprise, and allow Amazon to dominate e-books? Now, thanks to DoJ getting involved, competitors need not respond to to Apple and the publishers to better serve consumers and shareholders.”

 > Read the full comment on CEI.org

> Interview Wayne Crews or Ryan Young

 

UNION CORRUPTION - TREY KOVACS & JACK MANN New York Post: On the waterfront - Mob stench still fouls New York Harbor As he tries to clean house at the bloated Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, new PA chief Pat Foye’s thorniest problem will be the docks — where the International Longshoremen Association fights to preserve the old, corrupt ways. Some of the outrages are outlined in last month’s report from the bistate Waterfront Commission, which found the port’s financial and management practices to be “dysfunctional.” Others have turned up in court testimony. How bad is it? Consider: Last year, the Port Authority, in accordance with state regulations, asked the ILA for a list of candidates to fill 60 baggage-handler and driver positions. The union’s list turned out to have just one non-white on it.   That prompted the Waterfront Commission, which is mandated to ensure fair-hiring practices, to ask the ILA to certify that it doesn’t discriminate against minorities. > Read more at Nypost.com > Interview Trey Kovacs

EPA vs THE STATES - WILLIAM YEATMAN Globalwarming.org: How EPA Uses “Sue and Settle” Agreements To Steal Power from the States (and what the Congress is doing to stop it) In late March, the House Judiciary Committee passed H.R. 3862, the Sunshine for Regulatory Decrees and Settlements Act of 2012, by a 20-10 vote. If enacted, the bill would make it more difficult for the Environmental Protection Agency to negotiate “sue and settle” agreements that effectively exclude States from environmental policymaking, in seeming contravention of the Clean Air Act. By making these “sue and settle” agreements more transparent, H.R. 3862 would spur a welcome rebalancing of American environmental federalism.  > Read the full commentary on Globalwarming.org > Interview William Yeatman

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Heritage: The Debt Limit, Egypt, Federalism and Reagan's 100th from Heritage

As our country faces another record deficit in 2011, we are fast approaching the limit on our ability to borrow money to fund the government. Some will argue we have to raise the debt limit substantially to make sure the United States does not default on its obligations, or to ensure that Social Security checks, welfare payments and paychecks for our troops do not go unpaid. However, many conservatives view this as an opportunity to draw a line in the sand on spending levels and achieve real reforms in how Washington budgets your tax dollars.

Heritage analyst J.D. Foster provides an explanation of what the debt limit is, when it will be reached, whether we would actually default, and what our options are moving forward. Read his report here.

Also, for a great new product from Heritage on what the national debt means to future generations, check out this link for ‘Slay the Beast’.

The uprising in Egypt is in the headlines. For the latest from Heritage on the prospects for freedom and what can we learn from it, check out these links:

Bringing Freedom and Stability to Egypt

Top Five Lessons from the Fight for Freedom in Egypt

As we celebrate the 100^th anniversary of Ronald Regan’s birth, Heritage historian Lee Edwards writes on what we can learn from his character in The Classical Virtues of Ronald Reagan. And, Heritage produced this tribute video to celebrate his legacy.

As people focus more on a return to the Constitution by our government, the topic often turns to the 10^th Amendment and the concept of federalism. We looked into this important Constitutional concept in the latest edition of our quarterly magazine, The Insider. Check it out here for an in depth look at what happened to federalism as well as articles on education, health care and government spending.

We also want to know, what resources do you need for your local organizations? Do you need “how to” guides or specific issue research? Start with the Insider Online web site. It has policy studies from across the conservative movement, including your state-based think tank. And, it has a tool-kit with guides on everything from how to run a successful event to an inexpensive way to launch a website. 

CHQ - Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli: Obamacare will eliminate constitutional federalism

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To read and comment on these and other articles, click here.

Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli: Obamacare will eliminate constitutional federalism
Newsmax - Leading Obamacare antagonist Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued a stark warning for America: if the unpopular federal healthcare takeover is allowed to stand by the courts, it will destroy our entire federal, republican system. Cuccinelli says - correctly -- that if the federal government were allowed to compel citizens to engage in interstate commerce, then its powers would be virtually unlimited, and state authority -- which is a constitutional check on federal powers -- would vanish along with it.

Petition Drive Shows Conservative Leaders in Solidarity with Tea Parties -- Christian NewsWire

John Gizzi: GOP primary victors mostly strong conservatives -- Human Events

Influx of new Republican senators could make the lame duck session even lamer -- American Thinker (blog)

Sore loser Rep. Bob Inglis, still aiding and abetting the Ruling Class, besmirches the constitutional, small-government movement -- Mother Jones

Afghanistan is rapidly becoming Sen. Lindsey Graham's War -- American Conservative

Gov. Chris Christie provides the real lessons on how to govern -- American Spectator

Joseph Farah: Big-tent Republicanism and the Tea Party -- World Net Daily

Rep. Ryan pushes budget reform, and politicians in both parties are nervous -- Washington Post

Wyoming, Mississippi, Utah Rank as Most Conservative States -- Gallup

Michigan conservative Dan Benishek hopes to right the wrongs of disgraced Rep. Bart Stupak -- Daily Caller