Cry havoc and let loose the regulators

The Washington Post runs an article this morning entitled "Widespread complaints about a ruderless government" and it's basically about the Federal workforce whining that they haven't been able to regulate the private sector for eight years.

When President Obama takes over in January as manager-in-chief of nearly 2 million federal employees, he will need a plan to reinvigorate a frustrated and demoralized workforce, career employees warn.

In numerous agencies, federal civil servants complain that they have been thwarted for months or even years from doing the government jobs they were hired to do. Federal workers have told presidential transition leaders they feel rudderless, their morale impacted by the Bush administration's opposition to industry regulation, steep budget cuts or the departures many months ago of Bush political appointees.

I guess that's another of the low bars the media ex[ects Obama to step over - writing enough regulations to keep the federal reg writers busy. Well, if they haven't been busy in the last eight years, why have eight more volumes been added to the Code of Federal Regulations since 2000 - that's an average of one every year. Sounds like the regulators have been busy all along, doesn't it?

Then, as if we, the reading public, are complete imbeciles, the Post adds this to the article;

Federal employees said that they are not a passionately partisan group, but some are hopeful about an Obama presidency, assuming that their lot will improve. Several took heart from Obama's campaign trail statements that he wanted to make federal government work "cool again."

Not "passionately partisan"? Funny, but the reports I got was that there was a pall over many offices after the 2004 election as if someone had died. Many offices had to have their arms twisted to post the usual photographs of the President and Vice President in 2000. I'll betcha that Obama's picture will be up before the Inauguration.

The thing is, the government regulates nearly everything - I once found a diagram in the regs that specifically lays out the dimensions for theater seats - and every time the government writes a regulation, someone looses at least a little bit of their liberty. To me, federal employees gleeful about the prospect of writing more regulations is a very, very bad thing. It's too bad the Post, which claims to be part of the free media and watchdogs of the people, doesn't think so, as well.