Regulations, Codes, and Standards—The Barnacles of the US Ship of State

Back in the day of wooden sailing ships, barnacles were a real problem. Those marine crustaceans would attach themselves to the bottoms of boats and impede the smooth flow of water over the hull. In other words, they would greatly slow down the ship, were very difficult to remove, and significantly reduce the useful life of the boat. That seems like a good metaphor for the effect of regulations on an economy.

At one point in the early 1700s, it was proposed that boat hulls be coated with copper sheathing since barnacles wouldn't grow on copper plate. By the end of the American Revolution, the British navy was regularly covering the hulls of their warships with copper. Although expensive, the copper sheathing made the British ships among the fastest afloat and greatly assisted the growth of the British Empire.

So what, you might ask, is the point? If we think of regulations as the barnacles of our economy the point becomes clear. Regulations impede the smooth flow of commerce, cause unnecessary and substantial expenses, and often act to stifle innovation and favor large enterprises over small businesses. In too many cases, regulations can even be life threatening, in that they prevent use of better, safer alternatives.

To see some of the adverse effects of regulations, we can look at a few examples.

Not since the Great Chicago Fire have we seen such urban destruction and loss of life by fire as we have in recent years. The town of Paradise, CA, destroyed by a fire considered the deadliest in California history, the destruction and loss of life in Santa Rosa, California by fire, the recent deadly fire in Lahaina on the island of Maui in Hawaii, and the Palisades fire that destroyed almost 8,000 structures in Greater Los Angeles are but a few of the more serious examples.

Nearly all the structures that burned were built according to code regulations—regulations that actually required the use of flammable materials and designs that facilitated ignition. We know how to make high quality, low cost structures that are virtually fireproof, but they don't conform to current code. True, you can get approvals for them in most communities—after spending tens of thousands of dollars and years of time in permit approval processes. Far easier and cheaper to build the same old flammable wooden houses we've always built.

That is only one example of the harmful effects of regulations. There are worse.

Every year over 40,000 people in America are killed in traffic accidents. Hundreds of thousands are injured. Much of this carnage is because we are restricted to ground vehicles traveling in narrow lanes, often adjacent in opposite directions with closing speeds exceeding a hundred miles an hour. Above them is a vast sky with lots of room. We could have had flying cars by now with collision avoidance technology and safe autopilots. A large body of regulations prevent that. The barrier is not technological.

At the end of the Second World War, the governments in all their wisdom decided that everything necessary to know about aircraft design was known and could be codified in a set of regulations about how aircraft must be designed and built. Those regulations still direct aircraft manufacture today, with only a few accommodations for passenger jets and similar. None of those regulations allow for the design, construction, and approval of vehicles that don't look like airplanes. If automobiles were subject to the same sort of regulations, new cars would probably still have starter cranks in front.

Even if we were able to build private flying cars, they would be forced to operate in a grossly obsolete and cumbersome air traffic system. The recent collision in DC of an airliner and military helicopter is a direct result of the problems in that system. Although it appears that the military pilot did not follow directions and was responsible for the collision, the problem goes much deeper. As an instrument rated private pilot, I have some knowledge of just how bad the system is.

Again a product of post WWII thinking, our air traffic system was set up when navigation systems were rudimentary, expensive, and unreliable. Radar systems were all big and heavy and mostly ground based. As a result, regulations were developed around the available technology where aircraft in the air would be directed and controlled by people in safe and secure ground environments. The ground based controllers would sit in front of large radar screens that showed the locations of aircraft.

Only the controllers would have all the information about where each aircraft was and what traffic might be in conflict. In other words, the pilots in the aircraft at risk would only be told what the controller felt they needed to know by controllers in their safe little caves. When there were only a few aircraft aloft at a time, this system mostly worked. Not so much, today.

With modern technology, every aircraft from large airliners to the smallest private planes, and even flying cars can have information on traffic, weather, nearby aircraft, and potential conflicts, including ground obstructions. Consider that every day millions of people with smartphones are getting driving directions and traffic information in real time. It would be a small extension to make similar information available to pilots and flying cars.

If the airliner and helicopter pilots had had that information available, the DC collision would never have happened. Instead, they had to depend on a ground based controller.

In order for the system to work at all, the number of aircraft in an area, especially an area around a major airport, has to be restricted. If our ground traffic were required to operate like our air traffic, our freeways would be virtually empty of private vehicles, and trucks would be restricted to no more than one truck per mile.

These are but two examples of the high cost of regulations, not just in economic terms, but also in terms of lives and property. Some will argue that without regulations there would be chaos and all these regulations are necessary and serve good purposes. The regulatory mind can see no alternative.

Yet, most of our lives and livelihoods depend on systems that function just fine without regulation. Furthermore, the systems are adaptive and support innovation, unlike regulations that change slowly if at all. Nearly every aspect of our lives is supported by a system of standards that ensure that what needs to work, does.

The differences between a regulation and a standard are that regulations are laws that must be obeyed, while standards are voluntary and are supported by market forces that are much more effective than laws. Standards are like the copper sheathing that prevented the accumulation of barnacles. Like barnacles, regulations impede the flow of our lives, and tend to last as long as the ship of state. Standards can be ignored or modified or replaced when the world has moved past their utility. Regulations are forever.

The cell phones we use work because various manufacturers realized that there needed to be certain standards in place to ensure the phones could talk to each other and to the supporting systems. Moreover, as new advances in technology came about, new standards could be developed so they could take advantage of the new capabilities.

The results are phones that can be used throughout the world at very low cost and high reliability. There is some regulation around what portions of the radio spectrum can be used, but if we had to rely on regulations for cellphone design, we would probably be restricted to two tin cans and a very long string.

As yet another example of the virtue of standards, go into your local hardware store and try to buy a 17/64" left hand thread bolt with a pentagonal head. Good luck with that. What you can buy for pennies is a 1/4" right hand thread bolt with a hexagonal head. In addition, it will be made of a standardized steel material with well controlled strength and other properties that will serve as well or better than the odd bolt you tried to find.

Again, market forces operate to ensure that bolts, nuts, screws, nails, and millions of other hardware items are available at reasonable prices, have known and dependable properties, and are available in almost any quantity from a variety of suppliers. All because of industry standards. When new materials are developed, or to meet new design requirements, new standards are developed.

Unlike the thousands and thousands of regulations that exist, each of which carries a legal penalty, there are at least as many standards that only bear a market penalty. Yes, you can make something or do something non-standard. Anything innovative begins non-standard, and if people like it, standards can be developed. The only penalty is that people might not like it and use it. That is entrepreneurial risk.

Imagine if there were building standards instead of building codes and regulations. We could build high quality fireproof houses faster and better than current stick built ones. Imagine if we could have air vehicle standards for personal flying vehicles that could operate safely at several times the speed of ground vehicles without risk of collision. Imagine if we had an airspace system that could facilitate people leaving from their homes and traveling rapidly, comfortably, and safely to their destination without having to submit to intrusive searches, long delays, and travel on someone else's schedule.

We haven't even touched on how regulations are used to protect certain businesses and entities from competition. The regulations around licenses are often more about protection than about ensuring quality of service, despite claims to the contrary.

We also haven't touched on your responsibility. Yes yours! You are responsible for knowing all the regulations that apply to your activities. Since the regulations are published, you have no excuse for not staying up on them. Federal regulations are published in the Federal Register. You only need to read a few hundred pages a day to stay current. Of course, that doesn't cover the reading you need to do to catch up with all the past published regulations. Then there are state and local regulations.

True, only a tiny number of these regulations might apply to you, but which ones? Remember, you can be held criminally liable if you violate many of these. Ignorance of the law does not excuse you.

Aren't you glad that we have a vast administrative system to prepare all these regulations to guide you in your life from before you are born to, in some instances, after you die. Wise bureaucrats know you need to be regulated Although they are capable of deciding for themselves what rules to follow, you clearly aren't. Aren't you glad we have such a benign system? Aren't you thankful that someone is willing to take on the burden of telling you what to do?

Perhaps it is time to rethink how we manage our society and our systems. We have a start. There is and will be opposition from those who seek to control and who abhor the general freedom of voluntary acceptance... or not. Hopefully we can dodge this bullet.

David Robb is a practicing scientist and CTO of a small firm developing new security technologies for detection of drugs and other contraband.  Dave has published extensively in TheBlueStateConservative, and occasionally in American Thinker.