My answer: As one of your more conservative friends, I could not resist the invitation to communicate my thoughts on this subject.
As a conservative, I have a core belief that the more freedom we have as human beings (less regulations, the smallest possible government, the freedom to choose our path and make as little or as much money as we desire without being enabled or punished, respectively), the more responsible we become as individuals, and the more we care about what happens around us.
There have been many examples in history where rules/regulations never came into question, and we, as humans, stepped up and did the right thing. It is our nature to help and protect one another, especially in crisis, be it natural disaster or one brought upon by humans. From Valdese to Katrina, Haiti to the failed BP platform, we as humans are all responsible, and without fail, we have gone to extremes to take care of one another and as much of nature as we humanly can. It is our nature, love. We need no government to dictate our nature.
The fact is that we all continue to rely on oil, for travel, and just about every product we purchase, right down to the plastic wrap. Yet we cry foul play when a mistake happens like it has with BP and seek to punish them and the industry as a whole because our white sandy beaches are now becoming polluted and our wildlife is suffering. Suffering too are other industries, like travel/tourism that rely on visitors to vacation at those white sandy locations, the seafood industry because they can not fish the damaged waters, so hundreds of Red Lobster restaurants are in short supply around the world...or maybe they will just pay a little more and get it from somewhere else. Of course, they will charge their patrons more as well.
I'm sure the ripple affect is as great as a tsunami, when it comes right down to it, but I say this: Nothing in God's world happens by mistake. Nothing. Sometimes extreme events are necessary to wake individuals up. It melts political and religious divides, and we become closer to who we are meant to be...connected souls, all. We will always do the right thing and make the right choices if left to our own devices. Except for the sick few among us, there is not a person on this planet, including every single employee at BP who wanted to cause this damage. And if these individuals could have personally prevented it, I guarantee you, they would have.
Geeez...I really want to stay focused to your question of regulation, but continue to be pulled into the bigger picture around your question...sorry... (always been a big-picture girl) Let me see if I can boil it down...
First, human beings, when they are being who they really are, do not require rules/regulations to do the right thing. We know what it is, always. That is why we have a conscious, and everyone rallies when there is disaster that is bigger than our government. If we had a smaller government, it would take smaller and smaller events for us to step up and do what is necessary, in any event. Reliance on government has made us lazy as a whole, and allowed our conscious to become dormant. Sometimes we have to be slapped upside the head to wake up.
Second, we continue to have these wake up calls, yet nothing to date has been strong enough for us as individuals to change our lifestyles, or products, or fuel sources. Selfishness exists in every one of us. We all want our gas, our tires, and so on. And that is because we rely on the government to take care of us. It is a false security, if ever there was one. No rules or regulations will make us any more secure. It will just continue to give us a false sense of security and keep us asleep.
Third, the government could take over the US oil industry and "own" it, just as they are working on with the auto industry, the banking industry, and the health care industry, but that will never improve quality. It will only only degrade it. There are no examples in history where government take-overs have been successful and/or healthy for more than a minute, and so many examples where it has been tragically destructive. And that is all Regulations are...a form of ownership.
I think it will take much more than the BP accident to change who we are, and the bigger the government, the longer it will take. It is possible that it will take running out of oil completely and the complete implosion of our government to wake us up and make us whole again...human beings, wide awake, in all our power, strength and glory. Whatever it takes, I look forward to it.
Until then, each and every one of us is responsible for everything that happens. And no government regulations will change that fact, let alone prevent these 'slap-up-side-the-head' events. They will happen, regardless. They need to. They are intended to wake us up.
Ugh...big picture again...very big.
