One thing Florida has in abundance is layers of government. There is a government entity for everything from water policy (SFWMD) to children’s programs (Children Services Council). Regulations and laws are in abundance…good, bad and indifferent. Then add in the dysfunction of Washington where there are 175,000 pages of federal agency regulations plus bills passed by congress and signed by the president. The “Land of the Free” has become the home of the community removed regulator.

We have lost perspective on what should and should not be regulated and who should do the regulating. The adoption of our federal constitution was supposed to give the federal government only enumerated powers reserving all else to the states and the people. Well, forget that in today’s U.S.  Now Washington wants to control every part of our society which makes individual liberty more and more problematic.

The crumbs of control that modern Washington leaves behind Tallahassee wants to gobble up. Examples of this abound. There were some really bad legislative bills this year that would have limited local control even further. Thankfully those bills were casualties of the budget wars.  If passed, the counties and cities would have had even less discretion than they do now to listen to their constituents and do what they want.

While we would like to think that the labels of liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, will give us some clue as to where politicians stand, I don’t believe those labels much matter. From what I can see, it is not about ideology as much as control and trading favors. As an example, just remember the Big Sugar subsidies that both Senators Nelson and Rubio voted to maintain and increase.

One of the bills this session in Tallahassee would have prevented local governments from the regulation of internet-based taxi services such as Uber. Local governments currently have the power to regulate old fashioned taxi services. What is the rational not to allow localities to do the same with all taxis? Look no further than lobbyists for those internet-based services.

I am not in favor of setting up big regulatory bureaus to regulate the taxi industry. I can see a need to make sure the drivers and the cars meet some minimum safety standards. We don’t want our citizens to hail or text for a cab to go to the doctor and end up being robbed or worse. That type of regulation is a good common sense approach for all taxi services.  That approach for internet-based services would have been banned under the bill that died in the past session. Just because you hail your cab electronically doesn’t mean you should not have a safe ride. Besides if the majority of the people in a municipality decide that they want no regulation of the taxi industry, they need petition no further than City Hall instead of Tallahassee.

It is hard for the average citizen to have much input in Tallahassee or Washington. What individual legislators may say at home does not always match how they vote in faraway state and federal capitals. Whatever local government officials do is right there for the voter to see. If I, as a commissioner, tell you something and then vote in a different way, you can find me easily enough to ask why.

Local control of most governmental functions is important. The closer that control rests with the people the better. Citizens need to monitor their elected and appointed officials. It is easy for those officials to forget why they were given the responsibility of governing. Political labels or promises are just that. They mean nothing unless the official does the will of the people.