Citizens, attention! The government makes hundreds upon hundreds of rules every year using a vast network of agencies and bodies and other such wondrous government words. And that is great, because you might hurt yourself if we didn’t. So make a video telling us how awesome it is that we make rules for you! Maybe we’ll make making rules videos a rule!! RULES!!!!!!

From the EPA site overview: “This video contest provided an opportunity for the public to explain federal rulemaking and motivate others to participate in the rulemaking process. Entrants created a short video, not exceeding 90 seconds in length, explaining why rules are important, why the average American should care about federal regulations, and how people can participate in the rulemaking process.”

I know you’re all ready to go extol the glories of the state, comrades, but sadly the contest has already ended. Blech. As Radley Balko wrote at Instapundit: “It takes a peculiarly bureaucratic sort of mendacity to dream up the idea of using taxpayer money to promote a contest in which taxpayers are asked to make videos celebrating the way their tax dollars are being used to make their lives more expensive.”

Reason.tv did a few videos of their own. Here’s the one Radley posted (see the rest here.)