If you want to protect the environment, you should be a strong advocate for getting the government out of the environmental protection business.
Recently I have found myself in Facebook conversations defending my belief that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should be abolished. My argument is simple -- environmental protection is not one of the powers granted to the federal government in the Constitution. I tell my friends, if you want a federal agency to perform this function, pass and ratify an constitutional amendment.
Recently I have found myself in Facebook conversations defending my belief that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should be abolished. My argument is simple -- environmental protection is not one of the powers granted to the federal government in the Constitution. I tell my friends, if you want a federal agency to perform this function, pass and ratify an constitutional amendment.
Those who challenge my logic always come back to the same irrelevant argument -- the states cannot be trusted to protect the environment.
Advocates for broader, unconstitutional federal powers, such as the EPA, almost always have three fatal flaws in their arguments:
#2 - They never look at the evidence
#3 - They refuse to consider alternative solutions as viable
Regarding the Constitution - The Founding Fathers limited the federal government's power for a reason. If we were to revert back to the powers articulated in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, most of the monetary, fiscal and social problems that we spend so much time arguing about would disappear.
Regarding the evidence: For those who are advocates for the EPA (and other governmental regulatory agencies), I have a simple question: What happens to government officials and their agencies when they royally screw up?
Consider Flint Michigan's water contamination incident where a "former Michigan health official was recently sentenced to a year of probation and forced to apologize to Flint residents for failing to tell the public about an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease during the city's water crisis." Keep in mind, twelve deaths have been attributed to this incident!
Or consider the EPA's Colorado River toxic spill.
Or consider the failed levees in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. They were managed by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.
Or consider the thousands of sick Americans who die each year because the EPA has not approved a drug that might help them. Private pharmaceutical companies already have burdensome governmentally imposed standards to meet and often get dragged into court for the damage their drugs do to patients!
A private company in the same situation would have been sued for damages!
Or consider the EPA's Colorado River toxic spill.
A private company in the same situation would have been sued for damages!
Or consider the failed levees in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. They were managed by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.
A private company in the same situation would have been sued for damages!
Or consider the thousands of sick Americans who die each year because the EPA has not approved a drug that might help them. Private pharmaceutical companies already have burdensome governmentally imposed standards to meet and often get dragged into court for the damage their drugs do to patients!
The point is the government is very rarely held accountable for its incompetence while the private sector is rightfully held accountable and pays damages to injured parties.
If you want to protect the environment and make sure people pay for any damage done to it, you should be a strong advocate for getting the government out of the environmental protection business.
If you want to protect the environment and make sure people pay for any damage done to it, you should be a strong advocate for getting the government out of the environmental protection business.
