In today's Wall Street Journal, Magnolia Strategy Partners CEO Nicholas N. Owens chronicles one small business owner's ongoing struggle against the bureaucratic leviathan.  

Owens served from 2006-09 as national ombudsman and assistant administrator for regulatory enforcement fairness at the Small Business Administration. He's been a go-to consultant for many a David facing the regulatory Goliath.
Here's a little taste of his article:

This week is National Small Business Week, a time to celebrate the ingenuity of entrepreneurs—and to consider how government can provide better service to the small enterprises that form the backbone of American industry.  

Consider the Environmental Protection Agency official who described his agency's work as akin to crucifixion. In a Web video from 2010 that recently came to light, Al Armendariz likened regulatory enforcement to the Roman imperial practice of crucifying people to serve as an example to others: soldiers would go to "a town somewhere, they'd find the first five guys they saw, and they'd crucify them," he explained. "And then, you know, that town was really easy to manage for the next few years." 

Mr. Armendariz's point was that making examples of certain businesses or industries would serve as a deterrent to ensure compliance. But the way he illustrated his point provoked outrage, and within days he had resigned from the agency—proving again that the journalist Michael Kinsley was right to say that a "gaffe" in Washington is when someone accidentally tells the truth. 

To read more, click here.