So far this year over 81,000 pages of new regulations have been put on the books. These are not regulations that Congress has passed, but these were passed without being voted on. It seems everything has to be regulated today.

Regulations now affect almost every business that has been created in the United States. From hairdressers to manufacturers and from real estate agents to restaurants. They are all regulated to the point that if they obeyed every regulation, many of them would not be in business today.

We are being regulated about what we are allowed to put in our own mouths, and we are regulated about what we can build on a piece of property that we have paid for. We are even regulated about how well our homes have to be insulated.

As we get more and more regulations, we lose our freedom. We lose our freedom to choose what we think is best for us and our families. Instead, some bureaucrat decides how we are to take care of ourselves.

Now, I am not saying that all regulations are bad, but they are double-edged swords. Each regulation eliminates a piece of someone’s freedom even as it supposedly protects someone else.

We do need protection over basic property rights and some of the most flagrant health threats. However, I think every regulation should be carefully scrutinized to see if it causes more harm than good.

I also think Congress should be the deciding opinion on whether or not a regulation gets passed. That way they could have to answer to their voters as to why they voted for a regulation.

I know Trump has talked about reducing regulations and I hope he is successful at it. However, just to get us back to a sane number of regulations, he has a lot of work to do. As it is, I think free enterprise is being strangled to death with regulations.