Government gets in a tangle

*First appeared in the August 27, 2014 edition of the Laurel Chronicle newspaper

Think the Republican Party mantra of “smaller government” is empty rhetoric? I’ll bet you’ll reconsider that skepticism after watching “Locked Out: A Mississippi Success Story,” the twenty-six minute documentary on hair braiding regulations in Mississippi.

You read that right. “Hair braiding.” Granted, this isn’t the first profession that comes to mind when conservatives bemoan the onerous nature of government overreach. Yet its unique story best exemplifies the impact a government regulation can wreak on a business, an entrepreneurial spirit, a community, and a culture.

More than ten years ago, Melony Armstrong of Tupelo decided she wanted to earn an honest living by hair braiding, a skill she’d learn from an expert in Atlanta. According to her husband, Pastor Kevin Armstrong, Melony had this epiphany after having her own hair braided. “I thought to myself, her hair is that tight she must have lost her mind,” Pastor Armstrong recalled in the documentary.

For about six months, Melony practiced her profession on mannequins inside the couple’s home (much to the annoyance of her husband). When she felt confident enough to braid hair professionally, Melony took the next step by seeking a license through the Mississippi Board of Cosmetology.

And that’s where the story gets interesting. The Board refused to license Melony, telling her that she needed to attend a board-approved school for at least 18 months (which cost about $10,000, by the way) before she could legally open her business.

“The law discouraged me,” Melony remembered, particularly in a state like Mississippi where, at that time, you could become a tattoo artist, firefighter, police officer, and a hunting instructor “in less time than it would have taken…to get a cosmetology license.”

Aghast at this cost-prohibitive requirement, Melony sought other options. Ultimately, Melony’s passion took her from a salon in Tupelo to the Mississippi State Capitol, where she was able to garner legislative support to reform the restrictive laws.

According to the documentary, the reforms worked: Immediately after the law went into effect, more than 300 people received their licenses to professionally braid hair, and over 45 salons opened across the state. In 2005, Melony Armstrong opened “Naturally Speaking,” the first licensed salon of its kind, at a licensing cost of about $25 dollars.

The impact of the law change on Mississippians isn’t rhetoric; it’s real. The law “opened up a new hope for me that maybe someday I can [open a salon],” said one woman interviewed. Another woman observed the law change gave her “a reason to want to be a business owner…it was not a dream anymore. I could actually step out and do it.”

Melony’s story is compelling because it’s easily understood. She had a dream that was essentially unachievable because of senseless government regulations. Because of her efforts, the laws were reformed in favor of business. Notably, deregulating the industry had broad-based support. Even Democrats agreed.

Democrat Representative Steve Holland is featured in the documentary, explaining that he “just didn’t sense where the government should intrude…in something as culturally-based” as hair braiding. Democrat Senator Hillman Frazier said he wanted to make sure hair braiders had a “free market system and that people would be able to make their trade based on the economy.”

Unfortunately, Melony’s success is the exception, not the rule. Hers is a local perspective on a national problem. As a June Forbes article succinctly notes, “wrestling down federal spending and taxation won’t suffice anymore. Regulations are equally as punitive.”

The column references a Competitive Enterprise Institute study which calculated the cost of federal regulations to be about $1.86 trillion annually – more than half the size of the President’s recent $3.9 trillion budget proposal. If U.S. federal regs were a country, it’d be the tenth largest (between Italy and India). Localizing these numbers means the typical family pays about $15,000 per year on regulations, or nearly one-quarter of household income.

That’s outrageous.

Onerous government regulations harm business. They choke innovation and break entrepreneurial spirits. When Republicans champion fewer government regulations, Democrats shriek about Big Business and Crony Capitalism. What they don’t mention is the local impact of burdensome regulations – like requiring 18 months of classes and $10,000 in costs before obtaining a cosmetology license.

No one thinks that’s a good idea – not even Democrats.

BONUS - Here's the documentary referenced in the column.