The contest, which ends May 17, will award $2,500 to the makers of the video that best explains why federal regulations are good and how ordinary citizens can become more involved in making regulations. The videos must be posted on YouTube and can be no more than 60-90 seconds in length.

In the current contest, each video must include the slogan “Let your voice be heard,” and it must direct viewers to the government’s regulatory website www.Regulations.gov. The winning video will then be used by the entire federal government to promote the regulatory process and enhance the public’s participation in it.

The EPA is managing the contest, part of the government’s eRulemaking program, on behalf of the entire government.

As explained in the EPA press release announcing the contest, the purpose of the videos will be to remind the public that federal regulation touches “almost every aspect” of their lives and to promote how important those regulations are.

“The contest will highlight the significance of federal regulations and help the public understand the rulemaking process. Federal agencies develop and issue hundreds of rules and regulations every year to implement statutes written by Congress. Almost every aspect of an individual’s life is touched by federal regulations, but many do not understand how rules are made or how they can get involved in the process.”

The videos should be designed to “capture the public imagination” and to “explain” why government regulations are “important to everyone.”

“With a short 60 to 90 second video, citizens should capture public imagination and use creativity, artistic expression and innovation to explain why regulations are important to everyone, and motivate others to participate in the rulemaking process.”

The videos must both educate viewers on the government’s regulatory process and encourage them to become more involved in it. The videos must remind viewers that regulations are laws written by the executive branch.

“Federal agencies write laws called regulations or rules,” the contest’s information guidelines states. “When Congress writes a statute and the President signs it, it usually doesn’t have enough detail for it to be put into effect. So, federal agencies fill in the details by issuing regulations.”

The videos must also remind viewers that regulations are the law and that they actually outnumber laws passed by Congress on the order of 10-1.

“Regulations have the power of law. Breaking them can result in fines and even jail time. Regulations outnumber Congressional statutes. For every statute passed by Congress and signed into law by the President, federal agencies create about 10 regulations, each of which have the force of law.”

The videos must also explain to viewers how regulations affect the everyday lives of Americans, showing just what the government does that has a “direct impact” on the lives of “every American citizen.”

Regulations have a direct impact on your life and the life of every American citizen,” the information packet says.

“The price of the coffee you drink in the morning is affected by regulations written by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The television shows you watch are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. The quality of the air you breathe is affected by regulations written by the Environmental Protection Agency.”

The winning entry will be the video which best promotes greater awareness of federal regulations, motivates people to participate in it, and tries to change the way most people think about regulation, EPA spokesman Latisha Petteway told CNSNews.com in an email explaining the contest.

“The overall message should promote greater awareness of Federal rulemaking, motivate
others to participate, and perhaps, even change the common perception of Federal rulemaking.”

The winning video will be announced by EPA in June 2010.

My Views: This is coming too fast... over past year i have been warning you about Socialism of President Obama and his administration and in general Democrat way of life. I always have idea the main agenda of Socialist Government is always to produce subjects that look up to them for help for every aspect of life, will that be food, shelter, education, helath care, job.... list is endless.... longer the list more power government have on you.
When started each program starts with very humble, emotional, charitable motives... then comes regulations associated... and at the end what you have is system that binds you... Let us take for example, Social security... provide help to retiree when they really need... but now it grew in to so big complex system - you need specialized lawyers to justify why you need help...
Medicare / Medicaid - gigantic government department that per Obama administration have so much corruption and waste... so they are estimating they probably gets 500 Billion Dollars from cutting wastage.... Beats me...
Coming back to the topic... this system makes us prisoners / hostage of the system... Then comes Stockholm Syndrome... where hostage gets sympathetic to captors. But this is going a step further... now your captor is asking you to make video to justify and promote the binding. They are asking you , the citizen, should capture public imagination and use creativity, artistic expression and innovation to explain why regulations are important to everyone, and motivate others to participate in the rulemaking process. It looks to me like Master is saying their slaves to create commercial to promote slavery and create more slaves.....