How the Government Abuses Power

One of the primary themes of the novel is how governmental agencies such as the EPA abuse their powers. Rand begins the novel by pointing to the vague regulations of the EPA, in terms of their non existent definitions of "wetlands", "navigable waters", and other terms. He points to several stories where landowners are not only penalized financially for building or renovating their own property, but also criminally charged and forced to serve time in prison, simply for moving dirt, in some cases. Rand notes that the EPA forces landowners to give up their lands, "restore" lands to conditions that never existed, and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, penalties, and fees to avoid jail time for regulations many do not even know exist.

Rand then points to the Lacey Act to show how the agencies of the U.S. Fish and...