To the American Left, bureaucracy and regulations are “scientific” and therefore should govern our lives.
According to them, our lives should be ruled by “experts” who hold progressive opinions.
Hogwash. The claims about “science” boil down to accounting gimmicks and political games. This is at the heart of the Deep State’s grip on America.
As former Speaker Nancy Pelosi framed it:
“On almost any subject you can name, science is the answer! Whether it is the climate crisis, the health crisis, whether it is our preeminence in the world in technology. Science, science, science, science.”
This is an excuse from politicians with an almost slavish devotion to big government and to the Nanny State that micromanages our personal lives as well as businesses.
But it’s about power and politics, not science.
The control of everyday life silences opponents by imposing speech codes. It blocks opportunities for anyone not part of a favored identity-based group, explained with the word salad of “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI). The full cost is not yet tallied, but one study shows the Biden Administration spent hundreds of millions in tax dollars to promote the DEI agenda.
How can regulations about social policies and progressive agendas be regarded as scientific? The government funds academic studies by liberal authors to prop up those regulations as though they were scientific.
Even claims about legitimate science are faulty, however. A prime example is the argument that mandatory ethanol is climate-friendly. This has been contradicted by the National Academy of Sciences. Its study concluded that ethanol creates 24% more carbon emissions than gasoline, due to the equipment needed to grow corn and process it into ethanol. That doesn’t even count the higher price of food when 40% of corn is diverted to ethanol, away from food and animal feed. Nor does it consider how ethanol lowers fuel mileage.
A similar debate is ongoing about the full environmental impact of electric vehicles.
The often-suppressed truth is that green energy is far more expensive than fossil fuels, despite hundreds of billions of dollars given away to subsidize “renewable” energy. Even the Associated Press called this “the dirty cost of green energy.”
But the damage of red tape goes beyond social values and environmental regulations; it spills over into business, medicine, consumer appliances and much more.
Asserting that it’s all backed by science, proponents often assert, “If it saves just one life, it’s worth it.” Bureaucrats therefore claim net benefits outweigh the enormous costs of red tape.
The core of the “science” is an accounting trick, called VSL, “Value of a Statistical Life.” Using this, an agency’s proposal estimated to cost a mere billion dollars is offset by claiming it will save 1,000 lives each worth $1-million, or perhaps 250 lives each worth $2-million, or 100 lives each worth $10-million.
VSL is a gimmicky tool loved by bureaucrats. The Environmental Protection Agency, on its own website, admits that it has used VSL amounts ranging from $5.5-million in 1999 to $6.6-million in 2006. Today, the EPA recommends using $7.4-million in 2006 dollars, adjusted upward for inflation.
But to keep things confusing, the EPA says it no longer uses “VSL.” They’ve changed the term to “mortality risk reduction benefits” rather than “value of a statistical life.”
Red tape is rarely about science. It’s about power, politics, and control. And campaign cash. The bureaucratic Deep State keeps Americans divided. It assures a constant fight between those who benefit from regulations and those who are hurt by them. And it keeps both sides donating generously to political campaigns.