The Regulatory State Redux

Kevin Williamson's column at National Review today put me in mind of another thought I had about the effect of overregulation. Williamson uses the current example of a Rancher in Nevada who apparently has acted in defiance of Federal Regulations relating to the protected Desert Tortoise and now for his act of rebellion faces fines, confiscation of his property, imprisonment and perhaps death (the BLM has deployed snipers by some accounts, which is another discussion entirely: why are so many federal agencies so heavily armed?)

Focusing on the left's attempts to squelch dissent and prevent contrary views from being reflected in public policy he notes

  the Left’s attempts to restrict citizens’ ability to influence policy through things such as campaign donations, to say nothing of proposals to lock people up for unpopular political speech, are more dangerous than is appreciated: With those remedies diminished, open defiance becomes more attractive.

But, the frustration that leads to defiance need not be engendered solely by the perception that remedies have been blocked.  That frustration can also arise from the types of bureaucratic nightmares I referenced in my post this morning.  The frustration need not lead to open defiance to be dangerous either.  Because our society, as any society, depends on widespread voluntary compliance with the law anything that undermines the will to comply is dangerous to the society.  When people are faced with a daunting regulatory burden seemingly divorced from the real world they will ignore the regulations imposing the burden.  If such burdens are common the practice of ignoring them will become equally widespread.  At some point most citizens will then feel free and even justified in ignoring the law.  

That may not lead directly to open potentially violent confrontations, but it could lead to a type of  anarchy where laws exist and enforced on the books, but are in fact ignored while everyone acts in their own best interest regardless of legal niceties.