“Over the last hundred years, look what we’ve done in this country in terms of civil rights, women’s rights, Social Security and Medicare and minimum wage and worker’s compensation and prohibition on child labor and clean air and safe drinking water and auto safety, seat belts, airbags. All these things have given people the ability to live thirty years longer longer. Back a hundred years ago the average American-you were born in this country, you lived to be about forty-five on the average. Today people live thirty years longer than that. It’s because of government doing the right thing when you push government to do the right thing.”  Sherrod Brown

First, someone needs to remind Sen. Brown that close to 55 million unborn babies didn’t get that “thirty years longer’ or even thirty seconds longer,  because of the evil “women’s rights” decision made to legalize their murder in 1973.

Brown and others on the extreme left like to say that “corporations are not people.” However, when its purposes are altruistic (in their opinion), they can say the “government is people” with a straight face and it’s celebrated with the typical liberal double standard.

Dr. Michael Bauman, Professor of Theology and Culture at Hillsdale College, has been writing a series of blog posts on Theology and Bureaucracy. Sen. Brown would do well to understand that although some government programs may have contributed to extending Americans’ lifespans, “government” didn’t do that. People did that. Dr. Bauman explains that, “Institutionally mandated bureaucratic action is not the same as prudent, compassionate, enlightened, or humane action, whether we consider its origin, purpose, motive, or effect.” In addition, he says:

“The mechanics of bureaucratic rule must be obeyed.  If you are a bureaucrat, you are not permitted to reason, to create, or to feel.  You are not permitted to be authentically human.  You are permitted only do as the manual prescribes, or else be replaced by one who will. Bureaucrats are functionaries and servants, not persons.”

The truth is, real progress, ingenuity, and compassion have somehow managed to flourish despite the growing burden of the burgeoning Administrative State that Sherrod Brown thinks is the only thing standing between Americans and the Grim Reaper.  Government bureaucracy and regulations hold back progress and dehumanize the individual at every turn.

“There is a huge disconnect between Washington politicians and private sector job creators in the area of federal regulation. Every American wants clean air, clean water and a safe workplace, but the overzealous and unnecessary federal regulations created by Washington have negative effects on our economy.

“The excessive cost of compliance takes money away from more productive uses like business growth and job creation. The complexity and uncertainty of regulations and the arbitrary nature of enforcement tempers the willingness of job creators to invest. Overregulation is also a disincentive for new business startups and has a dilatory effect on the entrepreneurial spirit that helped make America an economic superpower…

“…We must act both legislatively and administratively to stop overregulation from hurting the ability of the private sector to compete and create jobs. From manufacturing to agriculture and from tech start-ups to the Mom-and-Pop diner, we must get the federal government out of the way so that private sector job creation can be unleashed.” Josh Mandel

Josh Mandel for Senate