Deregulation Coming?

After receiving terrific pushback from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Tea Party, and businesspeople all over America, the administration of President Barack Obama is starting to make noises like it may streamline and delete a few regulations. The president wrote in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal this morning that said he is gearing up his administration to streamline federal government regulation. In principle that’s good. The president and his allies in Congress have added so many new regulations to business that the government needs a period of time in which it stops, reassesses and repeals some of the most onerous rules. The 1099 filing requirement found in Obamacare should be the first to go.

The Business Roundtable, a cohort of Fortune 500 bigwigs has written extensively about how government regulation ought to be streamlined. The Roadmap for Growth is their answer to the administration’s question “What should be done to help business?”

You’re probably thinking, like me, that it’s a little late in the day for the president to be asking business what they want. An open door at the White House would have been a lot more effective two years ago when the president came into office. Instead business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce were roundly criticized and demonized in the 2010-midterm elections. That’s not a good way to help business.

So is the new strategy by the White House a rouse to gain votes in the coming 2012 presidential election, or is it a new strategy of common sense deregulation brought about by the wakeup call of a sound defeat in the midterms?  The answer is that it doesn’t really matter what the answer is. The president will begin to deregulate as much as he thinks he must in order to win in 2012. Look for some big ceremonial deregulations, or deregulations for unions and other pro-Democrat groups. Small businesses will surely see some red meat thrown their way, which is good, but they shouldn’t forget how America got here in the first place.

You and I know that the fastest way the president could streamline America’s business regulation would be to sign on to a bipartisan repeal of Obamacare. That’s obviously not going to happen, but if he doesn’t move in the direction, the president likely won’t be in office for a final vote on Obamacare in January of 2013. Leading the fight to repeal Obamacare is Steve King, a congressman from Iowa’s 5^th district. King speaks like he has been reading the pages of Richardcyoung.com when he says “I want a country full of liberty, and freedom. And our vitality is diminished by ObamaCare, that’s my Number One argument against it.” Liberty and freedom are paramount in the congressman’s mind.

In an interview with Human Events’ Emily Miller, King explains that Democrats “want to expand the dependency class because that’s what expands their political support.” That’s a sad but true evaluation of Democratic political motivation. Liberals have forced a segment of the American population out of work with job-killing regulation, only to then place that same segment on welfare. Liberals then tell those on the dole that they had better keep voting for liberals, or else the conservatives will take away their checks, food stamps, and other assistance programs. In fact, conservatives would create policies to put those people to work, in jobs they could be proud of, and productive in. That’s the better path for America. Hopefully the president will guide America toward that path during his regulatory review. If not, Congressman Steve King will be the first to vote “aye” when Obamacare is repealed in 2013.