"Seriously, what’s truly annoying is Congress’s diarrhea of meddlesomeness."
No, I can't take credit for that line - but it certainly is my feeling! Professor Don Boudreaux over at Cafe Hayek lists his Letter to the Editor (Washington Post) concerning Congress's inability to constrain itself in what is its proper role vs what is not:
The U.S. House of Representatives recently approved a bill to force television broadcasters to lower the volume of the commercials they run (”House votes to turn down volume of noisy TV ads,” Dec. 15). Justifying this legislation, Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) explains that each loud commercial is “an annoying experience, and something really should be done about it.”
How lucky we are that Congress – struggling to reform health-care, to save the planet from overheating, and to protect professional football players from concussions – can spare time and energy to relieve each American of the trouble of turning down the volume on his or her t.v. if a commercial is annoyingly loud.
But why stop there? What about inky fingers from reading newspapers? Now that’s annoying! Legislate against it. And how about all those full-page ads in newspapers that distract readers’ attention from important news? Another annoyance that Congress is duty-bound to banish from this great republic. Oh, and let’s not forget those many front-page newspaper reports that break off in mid-sentence before being continued somewhere around page 9, foisting upon readers the annoyance of having to turn several pages before resuming reading. Perhaps Congress can legislate against this bother.
Seriously, what’s truly annoying is Congress’s diarrhea of meddlesomeness.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Look, I hate the loud commercials too - they certainly are "annoying". In fact, they are VERY annoying, especially as I'm laying my head down to go to sleep and have put the TV on a delay to turn off. And then it happens; just about the time I'm ready to slip into la-la land comes "BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!"
The result is that la-la land recedes back into the future and I'm reduced to watching the the alarm clock going "yeah, what time is it now??" for quite some time.
College football? In my younger days, I certainly used to follow that sport but no longer.
My beef is that far too many politicians take the attitude of Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) and the idea that not only "something really should be done about it.” but they are the person to take it on.
And then never sit back and think "Is this really what the US House of Representatives or the US Senate really should be doing? Is this really the proper role for us?" Does the idea EVER occur to them that this be left to the people to complain and have it change privately?
Look, there is technology out there than can moderate this either at the TV set level or in the broadcast booth. It can happen without the Gubmit ever getting involved (really!). However, it just seems that our elected officials just seem to think that we ordinary citizens cannot effect change or our own. The simple answer is that citizens just have not complained sufficiently to either the broadcasters or the advertisers to make the change. While I do get a wee bit hot under the collar when the commercials do "go loud" (which is the major reason I end up staring at the alarm clock for longer than I should), it is not a sufficient reason for me to get all up in arms about it.
Neither should Congress. Neither should they meddle in controversy of how the Football rankings are figured out - let the colleges, the sportswriters, and fans hassle it out. Yes, millions of dollars swirl around the controversy, but that is NOT a sufficient reason for US Reps and Senators to stick their overly-inflated egos into the middle of it simply to "fix a problem".
Of all the numbskull things that US Reps or Senators can get involved in this, these are two areas that simply show that the Constitution, to them, is simply a scrap of paper that is taken care of in very special conditions. The SPIRIT of the Constitution (that of a limited government with specifically enumerated powers) simply escapes them.
Why is it that most elected officials seem to want to fix every problem in the world - even when it isn't theirs to fix?
