You can always have a laugh when another conservative goes on about their hate for red tape. They are always telling you they are going to cut it. They just don’t know which red tape they are going to cut. They will have to get back to you on that. Maybe a simpler question to a conservative is to ask what is red tape?
Their simple answer is that they want to rid us of the red tape that delays us getting things done. Another answer is that red tape is rules you don’t like. For example: If you are building a house, there are many rules. One that bothers some home builders are the rules for trusses under the roof. In Canada, the rules are more stringent than in the U.S. In Canada we build houses with stronger roofs because we have to allow for a certain amount of snow accumulation. You eliminate that red tape at your peril.
One of the simple ways of eliminating red tape is by eliminating the inspectors who check the red tape. In 2000, there was an outbreak of e-coli in Walkerton, Ontario that killed six people. There were no inspections of the water quality. It is like setting a speed limit on a highway and not bothering to police the highway.
Red Tape is also standards that are recognized around the world. There is, for example the metric system. It has always amused me that the rest of the world has embraced use of the metric system—except for the Americans. The Americans said they were going to join the metric measurements and then changed their minds.
The Americans could, at least, have gone along with measuring time in 24-hour days. It would have put an end to the foolishness throughout North America of trying to figure out what it means when somebody says something is to happen at 12 AM or at 12 PM. You can do your own survey on this but I have found that about half the people I ask will tell me that 12 AM is the same as 12 Noon and the other half will swear it is 12 Midnight. It seems to be the rare person who knows that there is no such thing as 12 AM or 12 PM. The 24-hour clock is so much easier to understand.
I figure that the problem is that there are too many conservatives in the U.S.A. They call themselves Republicans. They are always cutting red tape.
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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry
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