It might have seemed encouraging earlier this year when President Barack Obama ordered federal agencies to root out inefficient or unnecessary rules and regulations. After all, if there is anything our federal government could use less of, it is bureaucracy.
But the president put a big restriction on his executive order: His own newly imposed regulations “will not be priorities for the look back,” an official with the administration told The Wall Street Journal not long after the order was issued.
So, for instance, the thousands of pages of rules being written to implement budget-busting ObamaCare will not be subject to review and possible deletion.
We have no doubt that a scouring of federal regulations – and removal of those that work at cross purposes or are otherwise inefficient – is highly desirable.
But if the goal is to have fewer government rules and less bureaucracy, wouldn’t that be easier to accomplish simply by avoiding creating those excessive rules in the first place?