Is this really news to anybody?
President Obama has overseen a dramatic expansion of the regulatory state that will outlast his time in the White House.
The reach of the executive branch has advanced steadily on his watch, further solidifying the power of bureaucrats who churn out regulations that touch nearly every aspect of American life and business.
[. . .]
Data collected by researchers at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center shows that the Code of Federal Regulations, where all rules and regulations are detailed, has ballooned from 71,224 pages in 1975 to 174,545 pages last year.
“All incentives are to regulate more,” said Susan Dudley, the director of George Washington University’s Regulatory Studies Center.
Before anybody says it, yes, yes, I know Obama is not the first president to be zealous about issuing Congress-free executive orders and letting the unelected bureaucrats have their way with us. It's just that, as with most things I didn't like about previous administrations, Obama takes them further than ever. In a way, George W. Bush played Hoover to Obama's Roosevelt, pushing government growth in a way that made Obama's greater push seem just like a logical extension of past practices.
Oh, well, you elect a progressive Democrat, and you shouldn't expect anything but this. And Americans elected Obama twice, so they must not be that concerned about it. Alas, that is an accurate statement:
Taken separately, the public tends to support individual regulations.
A Gallup poll earlier this year found that 82 percent of Americans either believe the government is doing the right amount or needs to do more to protect the environment, while two-thirds say they would support stricter standards for food sold in public schools.
