Freedom from Excessive Regulation

Freedom is a notion that too many Americans take for granted. Few Americans today fully understand or appreciate freedom’s sacrifices. This was something that Ronald Reagan understood implicitly, and made sure to remind us, in only the way Reagan could. Freedom, as Reagan would acknowledge, is something that must be won over and over again. In his own words,

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."

And so it is again today.

When Reagan came to office, he faced staggering economic decline, in large measure brought on by excessive government regulation and burdensome taxation that strangled ingenuity and entrepreneurship, the backbone of a free and thriving economy. Reagan understood then that America was dangerously on the brink of losing its freedom from within, imposed by its own government as much as any risks posed by external sources.

That’s why, now 28 years after Reagan inspired Americans to dream again, to have faith in the American spirit again, and to embark on a new era of lesser government, we must redouble our efforts to remind Americans that bigger government is never the answer.

Conservatives did not have a voice in this election. Consequently, the liberals effectively shaped the debate on the economy as a failure of deregulation. Regrettably, the Republicans in this election seemed to concede this issue. Deregulation in the 1980s, however, led to one of the biggest and most sustained economic booms in American history. It opened up opportunities for millions of Americans – to travel, to open businesses, to land good jobs, and to reap economic rewards from the fruits of their labor. Few in either party questioned the merits and the successes of deregulating the economy. Today, as we once again hear calls for greater regulation, let us call to task those blaming our economic challenges on deregulation. Let us remind our citizens that it is not deregulation that has led us to where we are today, it is expansion of government and government mandates as represented by government sponsored enterprises (namely, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae) that are directly to blame. It was government that created these enterprises, government that imposed upon these enterprises legislative obligations to place people in homes they could not afford, and government that failed to heed the early warning signs that all was not well at Freddie and Fannie. We should not and cannot allow liberalism to use its own failings as represented by Freddie and Fannie to re-impose regulations on the rest of the American economy.