Congress: Rulers, not Representatives

If you really needed evidence that Congress considers itself above the hoi poloi, you need go no further than this thought:  Congress routinely exempts itself from the laws it passes for the rest of us.

OSHA requires strict compliance with a myriad of rules and regulations, and sends forth swarms of inspectors to crawl all over business searching for violations of the rules.  And since the rules are so vast and complex as to be unknowable, they are always able to find violations.  A warning sign is missing here, a railing is too low there, the lettering on a poster is the wrong size.  All of this hideously expensive and distracts business owners from the real task of running their enterprise. It cripples entire industries, and costs billions of dollars.  Congress, however,  is specifically exempt from OSHA regulation and is not required to provide a 'safe' workplace.

The Americans with Disabilities act imposed a mandate for disabled access on business and state and local governments across the nation.  Billions of dollars were spend in an effort to comply with the vague and ever changing rules for access for the disabled.  Horror stories of karate schools being forced to install wheel chair ramps, and flight schools being sued for not accommodating blind people abound.   Yet congress must comply with none of this.

When congress sets up a Social Security as a 'retirement plan' for the masses, they deign to participate, setting up a pension fund for themselves.  Obamacare is good enough for us, but Congress gets a platinum health care plan with unlimited access to health care.  The list of examples is long.

All of this regulation imposes huge burdens on the people, and our erstwhile leaders have no idea what is happening because they have exempted themselves from the pernicious effects of the laws that they write. They are literally above the law.  Or at least above the regulation.

This must stop.  What is good for the goose is good for the gander, so to speak.  If these rules and regulations are good enough for the citizenry, then they are good enough for our leaders. 

Congress should know the pain of compliance.  They should suffer through inspections and fines.  They should be subject to the rules and regulations they create for the rest of us.

OSHA is a good idea for business?  Great.  Let's get inspectors to start measuring the railings in the capital rotunda.  Let's plaster the halls of the capitol building with warning signs and other crap.   We shall see how the congressmen like it.

And just wait until the EPA starts regulating CO2.  Congress is a leading offender when it comes to emitting hot air.

Proposed Amendment to the United States  Constitution: "Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States."