Restraint in Government

Except for the title, Report: Democrat-controlled Senate laziest in 20 years, Paul Bedard writes an exceptionally laudatory article on the Democratic Senate, demonstrating restraint in government. As with Jefferson, conservatives acknowledge that “That government is best which governs the least,” and according to the article, that describes the 112th Senate.

Heaping on the praise, Beford cites Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erickson data that the Senate spent the 2nd least number of hours per day in session since 1992; kept from burdening an over-regulated public by only passing 90 public laws,  also the second lowest in 20 years; and diminished the grip of activist judges on us all by confirming a 20-year low 19,815 judicial and other nominations.

Compared with the 111th Senate, bills offered were down 30%, amendments 55%, and the number of roll call votes 40%. While such a hands-off approach hasn’t yet allowed the public sector to soar, it does coincide with an improvement in employment and the economy.

On a similar note, Abe Greenwald at Commentary, in Nothing Fair About Obama’s “Fairness” links to an interesting graph showing how the number of federal regulations passed has been decreasing quite dramatically since 1976. In those years, there were over 7000 rules passed each year, steadily declining to just 3503 in 2009.

It seems that restraint in government is a trend these days.