One of the major problems today in government that gets little recognition is that the laws we are forced to obey are usually not coming from elected representatives.
If you look at the federal government, most of the thousands of new regulations that come into existence each year are coming from bureaucratic, alphabet soup agencies.
In the case of Washington DC, the elected members of Congress actually pass very little in the way of new laws and regulations when compared to all of the government agencies. Most of what we live under is unconstitutional and it is even more unconstitutional because Congress should be passing these laws if they are to exist.
Congress should not be delegating its powers to other agencies. It is Congress’ responsibility to pass new laws, which would include regulations. While our representatives may not typically do a good job of representing us, we would still be better off with this scenario.
At least with representatives, there would be some accountability. The only accountability right now would come from people demanding that Congress stop transferring its power to other agencies. Otherwise, representatives can just claim that it wasn’t their decision.
If only representatives passed laws and regulations, there would be another great benefit. They would be far more limited in time than the tens of thousands of bureaucrats working at the hundreds of different government agencies. Congress would be much more limited in its ability to enact more big government.
Over the last 6 years with the Obama administration, Obama’s worst domestic piece of policy was the so-called Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. But even with this monstrous law, much of the written language in the law simply delegates power to federal agencies to specify the rules.
Bureaucracy in Vermont
This transferring of power is not limited to Washington DC. It happens at the state and local levels as well. Raw milk producers and consumers are finding this out in Vermont.
Vermont has a two-tier system for the production and sale of raw milk. If producers comply with additional inspection and registration requirements, then they can sell more raw milk. Without undergoing these additional requirements, producers could only sell on the farm or through direct delivery to consumers. In July 2014, this was loosened a bit more, allowing producers to sell at farmers markets.
Then came the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM), another alphabet soup agency, but in this case at the state level. In October 2014, it enacted stricter requirements for raw milk producers. As suspected, this happened without directly involving the legislature or the public at large.
Vermont raw milk producers will now face some of the strictest standards in the country. The new policy requires a lower total bacteria count. If the milk tested does not meet the new standards, it can result in a stoppage of sales, along with increased costs to producers.
These new regulations are designed to make raw milk production more difficult, while also trying to scare consumers. Of course, most raw milk consumers know that they are buying a product with high levels of bacteria. They are obviously going out of their way to buy raw milk, as opposed to the typical pasteurized milk that most people buy in the grocery store.
Many health advocates believe that raw milk is highly beneficial specifically for the bacteria. It is an unaltered product that is a source of probiotics.
Of course, we don’t have to settle all of the science here. We just need to acknowledge that it should be up to each consumer to decide what they think is healthy and not. They can decide for themselves. It shouldn’t be decided by a legislature or a bunch of bureaucrats working for the state.
While these new regulations would have been just as bad if passed by the Vermont legislature, at least the public would have had some say in it. Perhaps there would have been enough opposition to stop it. Instead, the legislators can now just tell their constituents that it wasn’t their decision, even though they should be held responsible for delegating their jobs to others.
These government agencies, with little accountability, need to be stopped, especially when our health depends on it.
