BrianGarst.com

We have too much government. Every aspect of our lives is subject to regulation, review, licensure or approval. Simply put, we are overgoverned.

Here’s a classic example out of Colorado:

Day care providers in Colorado may have to meet new rules that would dictate the race of dolls at centers, how much TV kids can watch and time in between meals, making Colorado child care facilities some of the most regulated in the country.

The changes being proposed by the Colorado Department of Human Services include that dolls at centers should represent three races (which are not specified). TV and computer time would be limited to 20 minutes per day unless it’s a special occasion. In addition, providers must not serve whole milk to children older than 2 years old, only 1 percent, 2 percent or skim milk, and guidelines for eating times are outlined. The proposed rules also require providers and children take at least one physical education class per year and that each child have an assigned caregiver.

…Funding to meet guidelines will not be provided by the state, Liz McDonough, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Human Services, said, but the state will “work with centers” to help them fix any problems.

There is zero reason for government intervention, and even less to believe that government will be more capable than the market of ensuring quality care. Centers already have incentive to take care of children, whose parents pay their bills. Day Care centers that do a bad job, and certainly such have and will exist, go out of business. Government, on the other hand, is slow to adapt to changing realities, has a history of poor oversight and management, and lacks expertise in the matter of child rearing. Why replace a good model of accountability, such as the market, with a poor one, such as politics and bureaucracy?

Colorado bureaucrats are artificially raising the price of day care for parents, which will most hurt poor families struggling to get by, and who need their children looked after so that both parents can work. As usual, the government is standing in their way, instead of by their side. This is overgovernment.

Overgovernment