The American Dream was built on the idea that success follows from hard work and a good idea. But today, success is all too often about figuring out how to navigate a bewildering maze of overlapping and even contradictory regulatory regimes, spread across different levels of government. Unfortunately, solutions are unlikely at the federal level, given the rampant dysfunction in Washington, D.C. But the good news is that there are abundant solutions at the state level that can go a long way in cutting back — or at least managing — this stifling thicket of regulations.
In an unprecedented and comprehensive analysis, the Federalist Society's Regulatory Transparency Project has produced a groundbreaking report entitled “Managing the Regulatory Thicket,” which examines the daunting tangle of bureaucratic red-tape from the perspective of an aspiring entrepreneur. The “regulatory thicket” refers to the total, combined burden placed on the person looking to start a business from all levels of government. Of course, while each regulation may or may not be defensible on its own, the report demonstrates that the cost of overregulation often outweighs the potential benefits when the regulatory thicket is considered in full.
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