Rules and Regulations
We have choices. We can let the destruction of our natural and human heritage continue to accelerate, we can use tax dollars to safeguard through public purchase or we can protect through rules and regulations. Since the public purse seems to be constantly diminishing, we must begin to utilize regulations or say good-bye forever to much of our heritage.
In the last couple of decades, especially in North America, there seems to be a move afoot to abolish rules and regulations. It is true that governments at all levels have been growing and proliferating with bureaucracy and red tape. This is because of the natural tendency toward power grabbing and empire building. Big business suffers from this human foible as much as big government. After all, we have been imbued with the philosophy that growth is good and bigger is better.
Although becoming leaner and tougher is a despicable choice, it is no reason to throw the baby out with the bath water. As human population density increases and social and technological changes make life more complicated, we need more rules and regulations. Homo Sapiens is a wonderful, creative, beautiful, terrible, selfish, destructive species. It is our yin and yang and both positive and negative will always be part of the package. Simpler societies such as traditional village life accentuated the positive and discouraged the negative through peer pressure. The rootlessness of the late 20th century has all but eliminated this, making laws and law enforcement necessary to do the same job. To eliminate these would be to descend into barbarism.
I have a modest proposal for the Rush Limbaughs, Newt Gingriches, Mike Harrises and Michigan militias of this world: there is a place that has no rules and regulations, no government, no taxes and complete freedom, including for weapons. I recommend that the anti-government types all move to that country. The name of the country is Somalia. I believe that if this strident element has its way, we will be moved in the direction of present Somalia.
I think that it is wiser, philosophically, to move in the direction of certain parts of western Europe - places like Holland, Scandinavia and a few others. That part of the world has shown some signs of maturity while most of North America is still in adolescence. Europe has spent the last thousand years working through the problems of burgeoning human population and technological advances. In the past they have had some of the most vicious periods of violence from the Vikings to the Gestapo. At the same time they have produced some of the greatest expressions of the human spirit. Included in these is a sense of justice, fairness and a caring for the common good.
We have many European friends who are environmentalists. We have travelled extensively in Europe and have lived there for a year. What came through strongly was a sense of respect ... respect for the community, for the countryside, for the family, for grandparents and tradition and for grandchildren and the future. Respect as a philosophy does not spring to mind in North America. Perhaps it is genetic. Through the last couple of centuries it is possible that the discontented and most disrespectful of the emigrants came to North America. In fact, I will go so far as to say America was founded on disrespect. From Patrick Henry through the lawless cowboys to Rambo, the heroes have been those that challenge authority and regulation. We have gotten away with the "don't fence me in" addiction to freedom but now we are running out of good living space and resources. Overcrowding, waiting lists, pollution and destruction are deteriorating our quality of life.
The deregulation that begun in the era of Ronald Regan has brought about more competition and cheaper prices. It has also resulted in a litany of many frightening and destructive trends in a whole range of areas from the airline industry to children's toys.
Modern technology and human population growth have made the planet too small to function without rules. We need regulations and enforcement on a global scale of such things as fishing on the high seas all the way down to the local scale of logging on private lands. We seem to be stuck with human selfishness and greed. Adopting, respecting and enforcing regulation is the only way we will be able to leave a world for our grandchildren just as beautiful and full of promise as our grandparents left to us.
Robert Bateman
February 26, 1997
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