Accumulated law
That may be my new term for describing what’s happening. And this: America is basically run by dead people: We elect new representatives, but continue on with policy from decades ago. To go forward, Congress needs to confront the past.
March 8th, 2012 at 10:38 am
That article makes me sad. Not the article itself, that’s logical and clearly an issue that needs to be examined. No, it’s the comments that make me realize there is no more freedom available in America.
Just read the calls for MORE regulation. It’s not broke, there aren’t too many laws, we simply need more of them run by the right people and you rubes are too stupid to manage your own lives, finances, medical issues, etc.
March 8th, 2012 at 10:45 am
Last I checked the constitution itself was created by dead guys… You are going to get in trouble thinking too far in this direction…
March 8th, 2012 at 11:18 am
What John Smith said. I spent a little time looking at the organization that produced this a while back and concluded that it was a leftist Trojan horse. Good idea to roll back bad policy but do it because it is bad policy not because it is old policy.
March 8th, 2012 at 12:54 pm
The comments are why we stand alone as a small group surrounded by idiots. (The comments over at the article)
March 8th, 2012 at 1:00 pm
So, is anyone in favor of a Congress of Repeal?
March 8th, 2012 at 2:56 pm
Wonder how the Obama Administration would feel if those “Old Amendments” written and codified by Dead People were revoked? You know, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constituion?
I will support any Repeal of the 16th, though.
March 8th, 2012 at 3:05 pm
Dead guys who owned slaves, didn’t think women should vote, and pooped in holes dug into the ground.
They were smart men who realized that they weren’t perfect, that they weren’t going to get it right on the first try, and created a system that could correct itself as time moved on.
The article isn’t calling for a clean slate and starting from the ground up, it’s pointing out that many (if not the vast majority) of the laws we have on the books were for specific items that are no longer relevant, or are in conflict with newer laws.
Just like my career in computer development. You don’t throw away code that works, but you sure as heck try to get rid of the stuff that is causing problems.
March 8th, 2012 at 4:24 pm
You’re all missing one key fact: each line of regulation (new or existing) is somebody’s government job. If you take away those regulations, potentially millions of people will lose their jobs directly enforcing those regulations. Tens of millions more, working on the periphery and supporting the enforcers (mail services, IT support, paper supply), will also lose their jobs. That doesn’t even take into account all those (at the bottom and at the top) who profit from the corrupt largesse made available by the federal regulatory regime (google “regulatory capture” for more details).
This is why the system will eventually collapse, and why it will be violent in the extreme. Far too many Americans are now fully dependent, for their very livelihood, on the current regulation-heavy way of doing things. That system cannot be reformed or modified to any significant degree without destroying somebody’s rice bowl. When the money runs out, and the regulatory framework ceases to be enforceable, tens of millions will find themselves on the street: desperate, hungry, angry, and ripe for manipulation by a Mussolini-style demagogue.
Know any Mussolini-style demagogues ready and willing to “organize” the masses of the dispossessed against the kulaks?
March 8th, 2012 at 5:17 pm
Most laws should come with an expiration date. No. Scratch that. Most laws should never be passed in the first place. All others should come with an expiration date.