BP Spill Proves Conservatives Had Correct View on Regulation

I spend a fair amount of time reading liberal blogs and news sites to understand how others think.  I didn’t take the President’s advice, I have been doing this for years.  In fact, I even turned my wife on to the idea of reading two newspapers daily, one from each side of the spectrum more than 15 years ago (WSJ and a then local paper that was beyond left-leaning).

Reading the left-leaning stuff could certainly get someone upset, but realize that they are just .. different.

While reading  the Huffington Post today, I found an oldie but goody from the left that states that Conservatives continue to prove that more regulation is better.  In Robert Reich’s commentary (different than a factual article), he asserts that Conservatives have now made the case for increased regulation.

Since Ronald Reagan first opined that government was the problem rather than the solution, right-wing Republicans have blasted all forms of regulation. Now we see the consequences of years of regulatory neglect.

Mr. Reich, this latest disaster doesn’t prove why regulation is good, it proves why it doesn’t always work.  Regulations were in place to require that blowout preventer at the “hole in the bottom of the sea”.  An entire regulatory body, overseen by Congress was in place to make sure they followed the rules.  A permit process was in-place to make sure that BP didn’t drill in a manner they should not.  Missing regulation was not the issue – it was just as ineffective as usual, just as costly as usual,  just as politically-motivated as usual.

What leftists fail to realize is that Conservatives do not think that an absence of regulation is good.  We just want to make sure that regulation is effective and that it is exercised upon those things on which the government has authority.

Then Senator Obama was the greatest recipient of PAC funds from BP.  The MMS (government office responsible for regulating these kinds of things) had a head appointed by him.  Yeah, more of this style of regulation is good for our country.

Obama is off enjoying a Memorial Day weekend vacation while thousands of folks do there best to deal with the mess that was caused by one of his most gracious contributors.  Sure, he can’t plug the hole, but neither could anyone in the government have foreseen or prevented it.  Regulation cannot prevent any and all disasters.  The government cannot fix everything.  To President Reagan’s point, the government is not always the answer.