"We need responsible regulations, not regulations that have gone wild. For example, the EPA has a rule that is going to be implemented Jan. 1, 2012, where they're going to begin to regulate dust. That's right, dust. It's called PM 2.5. That is focusing on the wrong thing"
About this Quote
The subtext is classic anti-regulatory populism filtered through business language. “Responsible regulations” is the olive branch, a way to avoid sounding purely anti-government. “Gone wild” supplies the villain. He’s not attacking environmental protection outright; he’s attacking the legitimacy of the people who define what counts as a risk. That matters because PM 2.5 isn’t household dust in the everyday sense - it’s fine particulate pollution linked to serious health outcomes - but the rhetorical move depends on collapsing that distinction. If you can make the target sound petty, you don’t have to litigate the science.
Contextually, this lands in an early-2010s conservative media ecosystem where the EPA was a dependable symbol of overreach and where “job-killing regulation” was a shorthand for elite indifference to working people. Cain’s intent is to reassign moral priority: the “wrong thing” isn’t pollution, it’s governance that feels remote, pedantic, and unaccountable.
Quote Details
| Topic | Freedom |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Cain, Herman. (2026, January 18). We need responsible regulations, not regulations that have gone wild. For example, the EPA has a rule that is going to be implemented Jan. 1, 2012, where they're going to begin to regulate dust. That's right, dust. It's called PM 2.5. That is focusing on the wrong thing. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-need-responsible-regulations-not-regulations-20009/
Chicago Style
Cain, Herman. "We need responsible regulations, not regulations that have gone wild. For example, the EPA has a rule that is going to be implemented Jan. 1, 2012, where they're going to begin to regulate dust. That's right, dust. It's called PM 2.5. That is focusing on the wrong thing." FixQuotes. January 18, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-need-responsible-regulations-not-regulations-20009/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"We need responsible regulations, not regulations that have gone wild. For example, the EPA has a rule that is going to be implemented Jan. 1, 2012, where they're going to begin to regulate dust. That's right, dust. It's called PM 2.5. That is focusing on the wrong thing." FixQuotes, 18 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-need-responsible-regulations-not-regulations-20009/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
