The Resistance Handbook: 45 Ways to Fight Trump by Moulitsas Markos

Author:Moulitsas Markos [Markos, Moulitsas]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi
Tags: Social Science, Political participation -- United States, https://archive.org/details/resistancehandbo0000moul, Political Science, Activism & Social Justice, Political Ideologies, Campaigns & Elections, Political participation, Political Advocacy, Civil Rights, United States, Political activists, Civics & Citizenship, Practical, Conservatism & Liberalism, Trump, Political Process, History & Theory, General, Donald, 1946-, Politics, Practical -- United States
ISBN: 9781633310179
Publisher: Disruption Books
Published: 2017-06-15T01:44:16.278695+00:00

When Bureaucracy Is Your Friend

Take the regulatory process, for example. When Congress passes a bill and the president signs it into law, the executive branch is charged with implementing that law (including interpreting it how they see fit—subject to judicial review). The relevant agencies then issue regulations detailing how the law will be carried out and enforced; legislation is generally a blueprint, not a step-by-step how-to. And that regulatory process offers incredible opportunities to influence, delay, and obstruct the final outcome.

For example, the Environmental Protection Agency was tasked with promulgating new formaldehyde emissions standards in 2010. Yet thanks to industry pressure, the regulation wasn’t finalized until December 2016. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration began work regulating exposure to crystalline silica in 2003 yet didn’t issue final rules until this year, 2017, and even now, the rules are currently being delayed to offer employers more education and guidance.

Those same processes available to corporate influencers are available to us. We can tie up much of the GOP’s destructive agenda in the bureaucracy. Even noncontroversial regulations require a year to promulgate. Controversial ones—and there will be plenty of those—can be delayed long enough to be abandoned by the next Democratic administration in 2021.

So how can we use the regulatory process as a delay tactic? First of all, all regulations allow for a public comment period, typically lasting several months; agencies are required to respond to comments. Once the comment period closes, the rules are subject to judicial challenge—which can further drag things out. Furthermore, regulatory agencies are required to conduct cost-benefit analyses (a GOP ploy to delay regulations that impact big corporations, which we can now use to our advantage), and on many types of regulations, additional public input is required after that analysis.

Issue advocacy organizations will be well attuned to these opportunities, will instruct their members when public comment periods open, and will offer arguments to make—essentially finding legal flaws in the proposed regulations, as well as raising unforeseen costs. If the agency does not properly address those concerns, those groups can use that opening as the basis for administrative and legal challenges. And the more people comment, the greater the media coverage the rule will receive, which will make the impacted agency even more gun-shy and careful, causing even more delay. So when the opportunity arises and your favorite advocacy groups alert you to an open public comment period … make a comment!

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