In just 2:50, you will understand how and why bureaucracy and over-regulation are insidious problems that can devastate the people forced to comply.
In 1990, Granite City, Illinois, resident Stephen Lathrop built a lake to stop flooding in his neighborhood. Later, he wanted to build homes around it. But for 23 years he has been fighting the federal bureaucracy while attempting to comply with wetland regulations. The Army Corps of Engineers asked EPA to prosecute him (it declined) and has refused to issue permits to buy adjacent land. His efforts have cost him more than $300,000 dollars and pushed him nearly to bankruptcy.
Whether at the federal, state, or local level, this 2:50 video encapsulates why policymakers must scale back the regulatory web. Thankfully, that’s exactly what the General Assembly has begun to do.