This is the time of year when the best college basketball teams play to see who will be crowned the champion. Teams are selected by a committee which picks the top 65 college basketball teams in the country. And people in offices and on campuses establish brackets to do some good-natured betting. It has become part of the culture, is good fun, and is called March Madness.

Every year someone ends up disappointed that their team did not get selected to make the tournament. The system lacks perfection, so good arguments can usually be made that some undeserving team made it, while a more deserving team did not. Such is life.

Now I understand that there is a movement for the government to regulate the selection process– and I’m not joking. The rationale is that Congress has the authority because it regulates interstate commerce . After all, the teams cross state lines to play each other, and sell goods made in various states– interstate commerce.

I find this trend very disturbing. The idea that our federal government should get involved in every aspect of our lives is crazy. The Founding Fathers envisioned a very limited federal government, which was to protect us and our currency. Most everything else was left to state government– that was the idea that worked so well for so long anyway.

Can you imagine how screwed up March Madness would be if the government regulated it!

There is a bright side to this madness, however. If the government did spend its time regulating the selection process, it wouldn’t be able to mess with the economy, and that alone would catapult us out of the recession.

Best wishes,
Charlie Donahue, injury lawyer, Keene, N.H.