As the inauguration of Donald Trump approaches, we enter a historically extraordinary period in which a single political party controls the House, the Senate and the White House.<\/p>\n
\u201cControl\u201d should be taken with a grain of salt, because little is absolute in our nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n
While absolute control doesn\u2019t happen in Washington, the political arena does have constants. During the past several years, a great constant has been the confrontation between opposing perspectives.<\/p>\n
Under the new administration, that confrontation focuses on the struggle over the separation of power written into the U.S. Constitution. The incoming political majorities seem determined to reduce the power of the executive branch of government, meaning to constrain the president\u2019s ability to use executive orders and the authority of administrative offices to write and enforce regulations based on legislation.<\/p>\n
The lobbyists are out in great numbers, speaking on behalf of either public or private interests.<\/p>\n
There are many issues on the table. A recent report in the New York Times observed, \u201cThe most powerful and ambitious Republican-led Congress in 20 years\u2026plans to leave its mark on virtually every facet of American life\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
With that in mind, we examined the Competitive Enterprise Institute\u2019s December 2016 report, Free to Prosper: A Pro-Growth Agenda for the 115th<\/sup> Congress<\/i>. This 193\u2013page report addresses many aspects of American life, and consistently calls for the\u00a0reduction of federal regulation with the intention to \u201cunleash America\u2019s entrepreneurial, wealth-creating potential.\u201d<\/p>\n In this column, we focus on issues related to gardening, a topic that easily includes food, so we will comment on only this report\u2019s section, \u201cFood Drugs, and Consumer Freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n Due to space limits, we can only list the report\u2019s food-related objectives:<\/p>\n This section also contains objectives to reduce or roll back federal regulation of (a) drugs, medical devices, and treatments, especially the new and experimental, (b) tobacco substitutes, (c) soft and pliable plastics (phthalates), (d) flame retardants (organohalogens), (e) online gambling, and (f) sports gambling.<\/p>\n Finally, this section recommends federal defunding of \u201cactivist research,\u201d such as research on the safety hazards of BPA (bisphenol a) lining of metal food containers.<\/p>\n These are industry-sponsored objectives, not actual legislation. Their basic message is expressed in the report\u2019s title, which translates to Make Money.<\/p>\n At the same time, consumer groups are vigorously organizing their defense of regulations that are intended to protect public health and safety. In California, the governor and attorney general are prepared to resist federal actions that would obstruct the state\u2019s progress on several important issues.<\/p>\n The debate over the appropriate balance between public and private interests will continue during the coming four years, with an opportunity at the mid-point of this period to review the actions of some of our elected representatives.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the political environment must be regarded as unsettled at best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As the inauguration of Donald Trump approaches, we enter a historically extraordinary period in which a single political party controls the House, the Senate and the White House. \u201cControl\u201d should be taken with a grain of salt, because little is … Continue reading \n