No Regulation Without Representation

Today is the anniversary of the only significant event in world history between the November rah-rah of 1918 and the election of Margaret Thatcher: VE Day, on which the British Empire led the Americans to victory in Europe and made the world safe for democracy, with no help worth mentioning from any Frenchies, Poles, Czechoslovakians, Russians, dusky colonials or other lesser breeds. Although the perfidious French have attempted to dampen the occasion by electing their president without due deference to the requirements of the Farage Falange, the Trumpster has indicated his own nation's gratitude and respect by continuing to follow where Britain leads and purging the mere experts from the US Environmental Protection Agency. The aim is to replace them with representatives of those industries against which the environment has hitherto been at least nominally protected, on the grounds that "we should have people on this board who understand the impact of regulations on the regulated community." This approach has, of course, been pioneered in Britain with the independent regulators for police and press which are run, respectively, by the police and the press, and with the appointment of a social disease as the minister in charge of public health. It remains as yet unclear whether the Trumpster intends following through to apply this great Imperial innovation to other regulated communities: holding off executions until the death warrant is signed by the condemned, for example, or giving women affected by anti-abortion laws a say in what happens to that nasty little uterine growth which may one day grow into a Republican. But of course - as with fighting fascism and keeping the planet habitable - one must always beware of taking a theoretically good idea to dangerous extremes.