Dear all, 

My buddies bust my ass about being an environmentalist who “loves” big government. I get a lot of flack for it. Sometimes I’m dismissed as some lefty enviro-wingnut because of my willingness to support environmental regulations. Well, you know what? I do not love big government. I do not want more of it. And I’m deeply distrustful of certain factions of it (eg, BOEMRE, DoD, Dept. of State, DHS, Army Corps, USDA, etc.). I’m distrustful because of something called Regulatory Capture. That’s basically when private industry overtakes a agency’s or a department of an agency’s mission. A fresh and clear example of capture was the recent sex-for-oil scandal at Dept. of Interior.

Still, I look to the government for answers because there are no good alternatives. I don’t trust corporations to conduct business honestly. No one should. From lead-paint scandals to cancer/tobacco cover-ups to harmful oil-spills to e-coli and mad-cow in beef to natural gas fracking - the historical record shows - absolutely definitively shows - that corporations will always choose profits over both human and environmental health. I went to law school and studied environmental law. I’ve read, and still read, thousands of lawsuits describing most incredible, mind-boggling malfeasance by corporations imaginable. 

Yes, regulation is a bitch, I agree. But the alternative - self-regulation - does not work. It just doesn’t work, man. 

Who can I turn to to ensure that my godamned tap-water will be clean? Who can I turn to to ensure my tires on my car will not explode? Who can I turn to that will guarantee that my toothpaste is going to work? Who can I turn to to know that my frickin’ bowl of oatmeal is, well, oatmeal? It’s certainly not an unregulated corporation. And it’s certainly not my good-meaning libertarian neighbor. 

So, with a clenched jaw and pinched nose, I look to the next best alternative - the law, the government, and environmental regulation. 

No one has offered a better alternative…

Comments and photo reply on. What do you think?