Inside from the Inside

Whenever I hear or read the “gummint” bad, regulations bad folks start to rant I always want to ask, ” Now exactly when were the halcyon days of minimal regulation, the salad days of small government, the glory days of rugged individualism?”   Before income tax? When a man (white) could become a robber baron. Before child labor laws? What right does the government have to tell me I can’t send my six year old to work in a coal mine.  Before social security, medicare, unemployment insurance? Before clean air and water? Before Brown vs. The Board of Education?  Exactly what year was government the right size,  when  rules and regulations did not encumber or limit your pursuit of happiness?