Senator James Lankford (R-OK) recently released the newest edition of Federal Fumbles, his annual report of the ways the federal government has dropped the ball this year. At the top of his list is a new program by the USDA which forces nearly 200,000 convenience stores across the country to sell more healthy snack options.
If these stores don’t start selling things like tofu, shrimp, almond milk, and goat cheese, they’ll lose their ability to accept food stamps. As Lankford points out, many Americans who live in rural America rely on convenience stores for their day-to-day groceries. If these stores go under due to the USDA’s policy, they’ll be left with nowhere to purchase food.
Overregulation by the federal government wastes money, destroys jobs, and makes life more difficult for everyday Americans. If there’s one thing we’ve learned from Obamacare, it’s that the free market is almost always more capable than the feds of providing the goods and services Americans need.
Sen. Lankford’s efforts are encouraging, but we need a long-term solution to federal overreach.
That’s why hundreds of thousands of Americans have joined the Convention of States Project. An Article V Convention of States can propose constitutional amendments that explicitly limit the amount of regulation in which the federal government can partake. These amendments can shrink the power of some regulatory agencies and eliminate others altogether.
