In my discussions with people about inequality and systematic poverty there have been a few who say regulation is the answer and then point to a country where regulation “worked.” If only it was that simple.

On the surface that kind of argument may make sense, but it operates from two faulty assumptions:

1. All regulations are implemented in a society that generally disagrees with the regulation at the time it was instituted.
2. Regulations that work in one society will work in any society.

Let’s take the issue of human equality. Our nation has a poor history of valuing people equally. Even at our founding we had issues with slavery amongst the states. Then less than a hundred years later, in the midst of a civil war, we abolished slavery. For the next 110 years we had segregation – so called separate but equal facilities, communities, opportunities. This only served to economically enslave black folks by taking away their opportunities and providing sub-standard (but “equal”) facilities. Forty years after the civil rights movement we still have pockets of racists, but they are dwindling. What happened? It wasn’t regulation that changed people. People stood up and made the government change (put in place new regulations). We as a society actually started to believe people were all equal. The regulations were a reflection of what the majority already believed; by codifying it the government was able to enforce that majority sentiment.

Let’s go at this from another angle – environmental stewardship. The EPA has been steadily ramping up fuel economy standards over the last decade or so (the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards). Yet we are so drastically shifting toward thirstier SUVs that Ford just announced it is eliminating 3 mainstream sedans from their line up because of poor sales (Fiesta, Fusion, and Taurus if you were curious). Meanwhile the F series pickup is the best selling vehicle on the planet. Why? In practice we don’t believe in caring for the environment. There are plenty of European alternatives that seat 7 people (the Ford S-Max!) but they won’t sell here. We like our big SUVs, minivans, and trucks. With regard to energy production, we have tons of physical space in this country but use little of it for renewables. Why? Because renewables are ugly – the excuse given in my neck of the woods about wind turbines. Or too expensive – which just means “more expensive than I consider it worth.” And that’s precisely the point. We don’t value it enough to do anything.

Bottomline: We need to stop looking to government to tell us what’s right or wrong, and change society ourselves. Regulations are meant to codify what we as a people already believe, not to tell us what to believe.