Right-Sizing Regulation: Why America Needs Smarter and Smaller Government
Right-Sizing Regulation: Why America Needs Smarter—and Smaller—Government
By Antony Barran
When I had my agency, we were growing fast: 165 employees, $80 million in revenue, national clients, and big aspirations. But you know what we spent nearly a million dollars a year on?
Compliance.
Not innovation.
Not talent.
Not growth.
Just paperwork.
We had to file tax returns in more than 40 states. Not because we had offices in all of them, but because of an outdated nexus rule written long before the internet changed how business works. We were under scrutiny from banking regulators, state agencies, labor boards, and the IRS—all with different standards, forms, and deadlines.
That’s manageable—maybe—for a $10 billion company with a compliance team.
For us? It was lunacy.
The Problem Isn’t Just Bad Regulation—It’s Too Much Government
Let me say it plainly: I do believe in smaller government, especially at the federal level.
More government doesn’t mean better outcomes. It just means more paperwork, more people checking boxes, and more layers of process to justify their own budgets.
And it hits local businesses, farmers, and entrepreneurs the hardest.
We’ve seen it firsthand at our oyster farm.
A Permit for Chowder?
We were getting ready to do a fundraiser for our foundation. One of the beloved local events, Jazz & Oysters, asked us to serve the chowder we produce on the farm. Sounds simple, right?
Not in Pacific County, Washington.
To serve chowder for two hours, we were required to fill out a seven-page event permit (and we were only a booth at an event that already had a permit to serve food) from the county. The form was so ridiculously over-detailed that even though we produce our chowder in a licensed commissary kitchen, we were required to:
Get the manager of that kitchen to personally attest to their compliance
Then re-attest ourselves to every regulation the kitchen is already licensed under
It’s duplicative, inefficient, and frankly insulting. That’s not public safety—it’s bureaucratic performance art.
Here’s what the form should ask:
Where are you sourcing the chowder (or food)?
Is it a licensed facility for this product?
That’s it.
The producing facility has already gone through the full approval process. Asking every vendor to re-certify that process for a single event is government overreach at its finest.
This is what happens when a system values activity over outcome—when the government creates process for the sake of process.
What Does “Right-Sizing” Regulation Mean?
It means scaling oversight to match the risk and resources of the entity being regulated.
It’s not about eliminating rules. It’s about designing smart, targeted ones.
It means:
Streamlined rules for small businesses and farms
Exemptions or modified pathways for low-risk activities
Clear sunset clauses and reviews to eliminate old, ineffective rules
Focusing on results, not red tape
Right-sizing regulation isn’t just a cost-saving tool—it’s an act of respect for the people doing the work.
Examples Across the Economy
Community banks were nearly regulated out of existence after Dodd-Frank, even though they weren’t the cause of the 2008 crisis.
Rural oyster farms like ours must coordinate with the Department of Health, local food safety boards, and the Army Corps of Engineers, sometimes with contradictory rules about how to farm on land we already own.
Family-owned businesses are still filing tax returns in dozens of states thanks to outdated laws that big companies lobbied to keep in place.
None of this improves public safety or economic equity. It just punishes scale and rewards incumbents.
Big Government Helps Big Business
Overregulation doesn’t hurt the giants. It protects them.
They have the legal teams, the lobbyists, the systems. Compliance becomes just another line item.
But for small and mid-sized businesses, excessive regulation is a barrier to entry, a drag on growth, and a source of burnout.
What I’ll Fight For in Congress
If elected, I’ll work to:
Shrink the federal bureaucracy so it works faster and costs less
Eliminate redundant regulation that slows down local business
Require tiered compliance based on size and risk
Focus government agencies on performance, not paperwork
I believe in clean water, honest banking, safe food.
But I also believe in local responsibility, personal freedom, and common sense.
Right-sizing regulation is how we protect the people who are actually building America, not the ones writing rules from behind a desk in D.C.
Final Thought
You shouldn’t need a lawyer, a seven-page form, and additional attestations to serve chowder at a local event.
That’s not food safety.
That’s government bloat.
We can do better.
And with a little courage and common sense, we will.
If you believe in smarter, leaner government that works for the people, not the bureaucracy, I invite you to learn more about my campaign at BarranForCongress.com. Let’s build something better, together.
