Charles C. Milliken: Better behavior, more control

Charles Milliken
Charles Milliken

One of the social currents we hardly think about, and ought to be grateful for every day, is the centuries-long decline in violence and assorted bad behavior. Several books on the subject have crossed my radar screen recently, and I must admit I had not given this trend much thought, since the headlines are filled with murder, mayhem and assorted misadventures. But then again, what would you expect? Since when does good news sell newspapers? On the evening news the rule is “if it bleeds it leads.” What percentage of movies are composed of violence, often gory? I don’t know, but I bet nastiness far outranks sweet tranquility. Who wants to be entertained by goodness? Too bland! The wicked witch seems more interesting than Snow White.

Consequently, most people erroneously think things are worse than they are, and worse than they have been. Perhaps that is a partial explanation of a strange phenomenon happening in parallel with better behavior, and that is the ever-increasing rules, laws and regulations controlling our behavior.

My theory is, despite improvement, there is always the sense that, since things are better, why couldn’t they be better still? It appears contentment is not the most common of emotional states. Good enough is seldom good enough. Who, earning a nice salary, doesn’t want more? This lack of contentment is not all bad — it is a spur to better accomplishments, better grades, better jobs and overall striving for improvement. Fine for my personal advancement, but why our collective desire to put increasing compulsion on others?

The simplest explanation is probably this: I want more, and there are limits to what I can attain on my own, hence others must be compelled to give me what I want. Governments at all levels are in the business of compelling behavior in every aspect of our lives — almost always, if you think about it, for the benefit of others. Some are obvious, as in traffic laws. Of course we want safety on the highways, so we have stop signs. The rule should be simple: You have to make sure nothing is coming before you enter an intersection, and yield if there is. Not that simple. There are rules about what constitutes a stop — and I ought to know having run afoul of them once or twice. A stop is not a stop unless it is a defined distance behind the sign. Sometimes, depending on visibility, you have to stop twice to comply with the law. Further, you have to stop for a long enough (and unspecified) time. I was once ticketed for not stopping long enough, or, the accusation ran, I had crept forward and had not come to a full and complete stop. Did this have anything to do with highway safety? Obviously not — but it did produce some revenue for the city of Toledo.

Consider environmental laws. We want clean air and water, surely. But how clean is clean? Since the EPA was formed during the Nixon administration, untold thousands of rules, regulations and diktats have been issued minutely controlling about everything that emits anything. The costs are astronomical. The benefit? Probably not much at the margin, but people who work for the EPA and similar agencies are the true believers. There is no such thing as clean enough or pristine enough. Mr. Farmer, you want to drain and cultivate a piece of wetland on your property? You will do so at your peril without the proper permission. Dutch farmers are being put out of business because they use fertilizer. Fertilizer, as we all know, causes plants to grow. Unfortunately, it also causes the wrong vegetation to grow.

Health, safety, planes, trains and buses, buildings, employment wages, hours, interviews, schools — you name it, there are myriad laws, rules, regulations covering all of them, and about anything else with which we come into contact.

There is something almost theological in all this. The good Christian is supposed to strive for perfection. Like it or not, looks like we’re getting a lot of help.

Charles Milliken is a professor emeritus after 22 years of teaching economics and related subjects at Siena Heights University. He can be reached at milliken.charles@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Charles Milliken: Better behavior, more control