So Much for So Little

Last week I was in South Florida, staying in a very nice resort right on the beach in Broward County. The weather was great and the scenery was beautiful but that is not what this post is about.

It is very apparent that there are not a lot of laws in Florida. I saw several people driving motorcycles, not one of them were wearing a helmet. Drivers using handheld devices while driving was rampant. Florida does not have a state wide prescription database so you can go to 5 doctors on the same day with the same pain symptoms and get a prescription for a narcotic each time and there is no barrier to stop you from getting all these filled at different pharmacies.

So, if Florida doesn't have all that many laws to enforce why did I see so much police?

If I was outside the resort, I would see a member of a law enforcement agency about every five minutes. There was city police, Sheriff's Department, and State Troopers everywhere. There was more police around than you see in the rough part of Winnipeg. 

All this got me thinking about the ideas of regulation and enforcement.

On the surface, it would be reasonable to think that if you have fewer laws to enforce, you should need fewer personnel to deliver the enforcement. This may not be the case after all. It may be possible to have more difficulty enforcing fewer laws because the general populous does not have a tendency to ensure they are in compliance. If ensuring you are compliant is the exception instead of the norm then it is more likely that it will not be the default position.

I'm not advocating more laws, rules, or regulations. Most jurisdictions have too many rules about things that just don't need to be regulated. However, good regulation can help mitigate bad decision making and there just seems to be a lot of that out there.

Some places it may be difficult to set up individuals to make good decisions. If you live in an under-regulated American state and you believe freedom means you can do what you want because nobody is going to tell you what to do, then it may be difficult to lead someone to good decision making. That being said, we need to move in that direction.

Nobody likes to be micro-managed. Everyone likes to feel like they have control of their life but, if you don't know how to make good decisions or you don't see the value in making good decisions for yourself and your community the cycle of bad decisions will continue.

Good decisions are built on the foundation of good knowledge. Good knowledge comes from education and experience. If we can get more people living in a paradigm of good decision making we will need less efforts in law enforcement and that can only be a good thing.

One of the great aspects of travel is it shows you how others do it, there is always something good to take away and always something from the not-so-good file. The more we mix things up, the better we will all be, and better decisions will result.