The EPA - Destroying America, Protecting Nothing

Source:
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/165651-aep-epa-regs-will-cost-billions-and-result-in-five-closed-plants
HT to Mark Matthews for the link on Twitter.

Big government is causing problems again.  This time, it's forcing regulations on business in a fashion that is going to cost jobs, increase the price of products in the market, and create a lower supply of said product.  This tends to be the end result of all regulation, but in this case we get to watch it happen immediately and dramatically.

Let's take a look at 'how we got here' with this agency:
1 - The EPA was created for a noble purpose.  "...protect human health and the environment."
2 - The administrators of the EPA are appointed, not elected.  Seems to me there's a lack of accountability in that scenario.
3 - The bureaucracy needs to justify it's existence and budget.  It does so by doing more than just enforcing existing policy, it creates new policy.  This policy is dictated without Legislative or Judicial control, as laws are to be.  This is working around our constitution.
4 - Corrupt people appoint corrupt administrators, who enact these policies for various reasons, most of which we can't know.  We are unable to vote them out, and must wait until the political climate changes to bring about any needed change.  By then, the damage is done.

So what does that mean for us?  In the linked article, the first impact is obvious:  Up to 35% increase in electric usage prices, and a loss of jobs.  Both of those are going to do exactly nothing to improve the economy.  Quite the opposite, they will contribute to the second dip we are beginning to see.

One thing I noticed that I need to address is the EPA's use of a certain phrase.

But EPA defended its regulations Thursday, noting that the agency has worked closely with industry to ensure that its regulations are “reasonable, common-sense and achievable.”

"Common-sense" is the catch phrase the left uses to dodge questions of logic and practicality.  They use it when they know that what they are espousing holds no ground in a logical debate.  Instead, it appeals to the idea that common sense is a trait lacking in many today, a statement with which I would agree.  However, rather than revealing where the true lack of common sense is, it misdirects the attention from the culprit, to those who would disagree with them.  This is the same language the anti-rights people use when they attack the second amendment, spouting "common-sense gun laws."

Additionally, when they use a word like "achievable" it misleads as well, indicating that the goal isn't difficult, or problematic.  It overlooks the issues that will be encountered, the costs (to the business, to the employees, to the customers, to the economy, and all others impacted) and other negative factors.

This fundamentally different view of the world from what hard working Americans see is going to become more and more of a problem as the country slips further into debt, and further into recession.  Is it any wonder why so many feel like we don't live in a free nation?  When an agency can dictate policy to a business without any legislative checks, our freedoms have already been more than infringed.  They are being eaten away at their very core.