Regardless of whether or you’re a liberal, conservative, libertarian, or something else entirely, the rapid growth of federal laws and regulations is bad news for everybody. We now live in a society that is ruled by so many laws, no single person can keep track of them all. Which means that no matter who you are or what you do, it’s impossible to go about your daily life without breaking some onerous and vague rule. Any one of us could be fined or imprisoned at any time.
And, unfortunately, 2015 was a record-breaking year for new regulations. According to the Office of the Federal Register, which keeps track of government agency rules and public notices, 81,611 pages of regulations and proposed rules were created in 2015. That is significantly higher than 2014’s 77,687 pages, and more than the all-time high of 81,405, which was set in 2010.
All told, about 3,378 rules were finalized, and 2,334 regulations are at some stage of consideration. In addition to this, President Obama issued 29 executive orders and 31 executive memorandums (with plenty more to come in 2016). The only question that remains, is what new horrors does the Federal Register have in store for us this year?
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