paulitician
Platinum Member
- Oct 7, 2011
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Nanny State U.S.A.
Let’s start with the premise that lawmakers are the only people in America who aren’t convinced we have too many laws.
Now, with the new year tightening its clock-springs, the National Council of State Legislatures tells us we’ve just added 40,000 more. That’s an average of one every 13 minutes.
Oh, goodie.
Laws are like technology. Over time, they become one of two things: indispensable or obsolete. It’s beyond me why most state and federal laws don’t have 15- or 20-year sunset clauses, so we could periodically dispense with the obsolete ones like so many floppy disc drives and 8-track tape decks. (Remember them?)
If left alone, laws can become downright necrotic. If you think it’s hard to get a new law passed, just try repealing one after a special interest group’s lobbyists commit themselves to protecting it.
For my fellow Latin geeks, Tacitus put it best: “Corruptisima republica plurimae leges.” The more corrupt the state, the more plentiful its laws.
Tacitus was a senator and historian in ancient Rome. (Remember them?) He was nonplussed about emperors’ power to enact laws that didn’t improve anything for anyone. He also wrote an 11,000-word eulogy for his father-in-law, so he wasn’t perfect. But Tacitus knew an over-legalized nation when he saw one.
Read more: New State Laws | California | Textbooks | The Daily Caller
This isn't Politics, it's Law. Moved.
Let’s start with the premise that lawmakers are the only people in America who aren’t convinced we have too many laws.
Now, with the new year tightening its clock-springs, the National Council of State Legislatures tells us we’ve just added 40,000 more. That’s an average of one every 13 minutes.
Oh, goodie.
Laws are like technology. Over time, they become one of two things: indispensable or obsolete. It’s beyond me why most state and federal laws don’t have 15- or 20-year sunset clauses, so we could periodically dispense with the obsolete ones like so many floppy disc drives and 8-track tape decks. (Remember them?)
If left alone, laws can become downright necrotic. If you think it’s hard to get a new law passed, just try repealing one after a special interest group’s lobbyists commit themselves to protecting it.
For my fellow Latin geeks, Tacitus put it best: “Corruptisima republica plurimae leges.” The more corrupt the state, the more plentiful its laws.
Tacitus was a senator and historian in ancient Rome. (Remember them?) He was nonplussed about emperors’ power to enact laws that didn’t improve anything for anyone. He also wrote an 11,000-word eulogy for his father-in-law, so he wasn’t perfect. But Tacitus knew an over-legalized nation when he saw one.
Read more: New State Laws | California | Textbooks | The Daily Caller
This isn't Politics, it's Law. Moved.