A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Federal
regulations in
need of review
P
resident-elect Donald
Trump, affi rmed Monday
by the Electoral College,
in his deluge of campaign
promises said he would work to
reduce costly regulations.
The Heritage Foundation, a
conservative think tank, earlier
this month provided a review
of federal regulations that carry
criminal penalties. The list
would be a good place to start,
and its point is well taken.
In civics class we learned
that the legislative branch
makes law, both civil and
criminal, and the executive
branch enforces those laws.
Congress, for example, passes
a law making bank robbery
a federal crime, defi nes the
elements of the crime and
establishes a penalty.
Simple. But, as is often
the case in Washington, D.C.,
things are rarely ever simple.
In 1911, the Supreme
Court held in United States v.
Grimwaud that Congress had
the power to pass the broad
strokes of law and delegate
to the executive the details of
the rules and regulations to
implement the law. The case
revolved around the secretary
of agriculture’s authority to
make regulations concerning
the use of Forest Service lands
for grazing and other purposes,
and to attach criminal and
civil penalties provided by
Congress for violations of those
regulations.
The ruling was a boon to
Congress, a busy institution
without time, expertise or
often particular interest in the
arcane details. More time on
details means less time for law-
making. How might that look to
the voters back home?
So, to pack in more law-
making Congress has left it
to federal agencies to make
the rules, and to decide which
violations will carry civil
penalties and which will be
federal crimes that carry jail
time.
Bank robbery is a pretty
straightforward crime, and
one needs no more than
an understanding of the
Commandment “Thou shalt
not steal” to know it’s wrong.
But the violation of many
regulations that carry criminal
penalties is nowhere near as
obvious. Without any criminal
intent, an unsuspecting
violator can face jail time and
criminal fi nes for even the most
innocuous action.
Equally alarming is that
the number of potential
criminal violations grows
annually as agencies make
more regulations. No one
really knows, but critics say
violations of as many as
300,000 regulations carry
criminal penalties.
“With little to no input from
or accountability to voters,
bureaucrats have run amok
with the power to create new
crimes,” the foundation says.
If regulations are to be
enforced, there must be
penalties. However, for
all but the most egregious
violations, the threat of civil
fi nes should be adequate to
force compliance. Congress
should reserve for itself the
power to defi ne federal crimes.
Citizens should demand that
accountability.
In the meantime, we agree
that the next president should
curtail the creation of new federal
crimes by bureaucratic fi at.
G UEST C OMMENT
Who needs more stuff?
By Tim Trainor
EO Media Group
It’s almost Christmas, and many
procrastinators — myself included
— are still searching for the perfect
gift.
Perhaps they are window
shopping downtown. Perhaps they
are working late nights in their
shop or quilting chair to fi nish
something beautiful for someone
special.
But here’s some radical advice
this gift-giving season: Don’t do it.
Much of the developed world
has hit “peak stuff.” Many
Americans, and many people all
over the world, have too much
of everything. And our future
happiness depends on realizing
that.
This is, relatively, a good thing.
We’re a materially suffi cient
society. And it’s not necessarily
doom and gloom for many retail
businesses, or the economy of the
future. In fact, some of the world’s
biggest makers of “stuff” are
embracing the idea that the world
doesn’t need more of that.
NPR reported earlier this year
about hitting peak production, peak
supply and peak demand. Beef and
sugar sales, for instance, cannot
conceivably go any higher. We’re
also — as a species — coming
up against peak population, a
hazy number that scientists and
philosophers have been debating
for centuries.
Still, there has to be a limit
somewhere —whether it’s humans
or candle holders.
“The use of stuff is plateauing
out,” IKEA executive Steve
Howard told NPR last year. IKEA,
of course, is a company that sells
nothing but stuff — often cheap,
easily replaceable stuff.
It reminds me of George
Orwell’s classic dystopian
novel “1984.” The government-
controlled world of the future is
in a perpetual state of war as a
means of psychological control,
but also as a means to destroy
things. Because destroying things
eventually requires rebuilding,
and that requires the making and
buying of stuff. An endless cycle.
Yet, perhaps it is a cycle we can
break.
Those weirdo Europeans, who
have a lot more old stuff than we
do, are thinking about ways to deal
with the glut.
The “Library of Things” in
London is one answer — a sort
of cooperative where people pay
to rent everything from a carpet
cleaner to a rake, from a backpack
to a garden hose.
It helps city residents save
money and save space, and it
saves hundreds or thousands of
duplicitous things from being
purchased and thrown out and
purchased again.
For a world that continues to
see human populations increase
— and steadily migrate from rural
spaces into cities — space is a real
concern.
Consider that the U.S. self
storage industry generated $27.2
billion in revenues in 2014,
according to the Wall Street
Journal. The newspaper noted
that the industry has been the
fastest-growing segment of the
commercial real estate industry for
the last 40 years. About 90 percent
of the country’s storage units are
in use, and about 10 percent of
American households currently
rent one.
If you have space, Americans
are likely to fi ll it with stuff.
Still, it is important to note that
there are plenty of people out there,
in this country and in others, who
are in real need. They lack the stuff
that make a life complete.
The Christmas season is perhaps
the best time to think of them, and
donate and give of ourselves and
our dollars. A toy can brighten
a child’s day, but food can give
deeper pleasure, and a scholarship
can brighten a lifetime. An hour of
your time, a long-term mentorship
and sustained neighborly care, can
deeply and powerfully impact a
person’s life. Teaching your child
a family recipe or taking a friend
to your favorite secret, snowy
trail can fi re up new synapses in
the brain. Those experiences can
nourish the soul and open a new
route to happiness. Giving the gift
of time, even to yourself, can cure
many ails.
Christmas is a spiritual holiday.
And while everyone who will wake
up Christmas morning to a BMW
with a bow on it is bound to feel
some real joy, a longer and deeper
peace can be found in having and
needing less. And besides, renting
that BMW means you don’t have
to change the oil in the middle of
the winter.
Tim Trainor is interim editor of
the Wallowa County Chieftain.
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
Parents should play
role in preventing
bullying
W HERE TO W RITE
GRANT COUNTY
• Grant County Courthouse — 201
S. Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax: 541-
575-2248.
• Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon
City 97820. Phone: 541-575-0509. Fax:
541-575-0515. Email: tocc1862@centu-
rylink.net.
• Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville
97825. Phone: 541-987-2188. Fax: 541-
987-2187. Email:dville@ortelco.net
• John Day — 450 E. Main St, John Day,
97845. Phone: 541-575-0028. Fax: 541-
575-1721. Email: cityjd@centurytel.net.
• Long Creek — P.O. Box 489, Long
Creek 97856. Phone: 541-421-3601. Fax:
541-421-3075. Email: info@cityofl ong-
creek.com.
• Monument — P.O. Box 426, Monument
97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-2025.
Email: cityofmonument@centurytel.net.
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Vernon 97865. Phone: 541-932-4688. Fax:
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
P UBLISHED EVERY
W EDNESDAY BY
541-932-4222. Email: cmtv@ortelco.net.
• Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie
City 97869. Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax:
820-3566. Email: pchall@ortelco.net.
• Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca
97873. Phone and fax: 541-542-2161.
Email: senecaoregon@gmail.com.
SALEM
• Gov. Kate Brown, D — 254 State
Capitol, Salem 97310. Phone: 503-378-
3111. Fax: 503-378-6827. Website: www.
governor.state.or.us/governor.html.
• Oregon Legislature — State Capitol,
Salem, 97310. Phone: (503) 986-1180.
Website: www. leg.state.or.us (includes
Oregon Constitution and Oregon Revised
Statutes).
• State Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario (Dis-
trict: 60), Room H-475, State Capitol, 900
Court St. N.E., Salem OR 97301. Phone:
503-986-1460. Email: rep.cliffbentz@state.
or.us. Website: www.leg.state.or.us/bentz/
home.htm.
To the Editor:
Perhaps during the Christmas
break from school, teachers and
parents can take the time to take
seriously their role in stopping the
bullying that is going on in our
communities.
I don’t know many who have
students in John Day, but I know of
some here in Prairie City who are
dealing with their kids being bul-
lied.
It is inconceivable that a par-
ent asks for help and is dismissed,
or ignored, and their child contin-
ues to be harmed by others who,
for whatever reason, carry on this
timeless evil against their fellow
students.
It damages the kids who
are bullied, and what does it
say about those who are the
bullies?
We hear too often about kids
who either take their own lives to
end the torment, or lash out against
the bullies because no one stepped
up to help them.
Do nothing, and we risk
more heartbreak for families,
and the blame falling where it
should won’t undo the harm
done.
If your daughter played soccer
in Prairie City, ask them if they
were part of the ugliness and de-
stroying a possible good memory
for another girl who would have
loved to be a part of the team, or
at least ride the bus without being
kicked.
Parents need to ask their kids if
they are being bullied, or are a bul-
ly. Teachers need to listen, and do
something!
Mary Brown
Prairie City
Please return stolen
Christmas lights
To the Editor:
On Saturday night at my home
on Humbolt Street, someone stole
my Christmas lights!
The sad thing about it was that
my 4-year-old grandson asked
Santa to bring lights for Grandma
and Grandpa’s house! The lights
weren’t for us; they were for him.
If you can fi nd it in your heart to
return them, we would be grateful
for Sammy!
Diane Blake
Canyon City
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