Posted on 08/20/2024 7:09:33 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
The "rule of law" sits high on the altar of American culture as a core national value. Law in America is as pure as law can be—impartial, precise, and therefore unquestioned, like the 10 Commandments. The mandarins of law debate fine points such as judicial deference but almost never ask doctors, teachers, employers, or civic leaders whether law supports or hinders them.
But Americans in their everyday activities see a different reality. Law is so dense that it is unknowable, and so complex that even large companies with huge legal staffs can't comply—more like the 10 Million Commandments. Instead of protecting against abuse, law has become tangles of tripwires that are gamed for selfish purposes. Instead of enhancing freedom, law causes Americans to be fearful and defensive.
The stark discrepancy between legal orthodoxy and legal dysfunction is why the new book by Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and Janie Nitze is so important. In Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law, Gorsuch and Nitze make a long-overdue announcement—The legal emperor has no clothes.
Starting in the 1960s, the rule of law was transformed into an instruction manual. Instead of defining an open field of freedom, law replaced freedom. A small-town magician giving magic shows for children in local libraries with a pet bunny must now comply with the same rules as a circus, including getting a federal license, informing the agency in advance if the bunny travels, and developing a 28-page "disaster relief plan." The magician got off easy compared to the family orchard in upstate New York, which keeps 13 clipboards to keep track of some 5,000 regulations. Too much law, as Gorsuch and Nitze described, has a similar effect as...
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
Do these lefties really want anarchy?
If they want to drop everything and go full chaos, I say bring it on! Let’s go.
No, that’s not what they want. They don’t care about too much regulation or loss of freedom. What they care about is who is controlling the people. They don’t like sharing power.
the bigger problem is the law only applies to some....
That’s the whole idea of a socialist society. So many laws you are guilty of something everyday.
I can think of a hundred things you used to be able to do that are now against the law.
Right there in the second sentence is this howler: “Law in America is as pure as law can be—impartial…”
Maybe the author was suggesting in an ideal world.
Yes, there is too much law. Legislators have far too much time on their hands and far too much self-interest involved. One legislator here had a new law passed that required tag registration within two days instead of a few weeks. Why? His son was stopped for driving with an expired dealer tag and while stopped was hit by another driver and injured. I know, it does not follow but there it is, a new law because he wanted it.
a) Constitutionally dubious delegation of legislative authority to the administrative state and too many administrative agencies;
b) the legislature seeking a workaround for various courts' expansion of procedural rules (again, without legislation) by passing innumerable criminal offenses with draconian penalties
Above all at the Federal level is the utter abandonment of the Constitution's limited grant of authority to Congress over interstate commerce. Congress has literally no authority over the manufacture, sale or possession of anything unless it crosses state lines or an international boundary.
Law has become, like everything else government administers, a jobs program. Taxpayer funded payroll, benefits, and retirement is always the result. The original intent of the program becomes secondary, or even lower.
I find that HIPPA laws are mis-used to hinder everyone with their medical needs and communication.
My belief is the law is their to restrict the medical side from sending anything but secure communications to a patient.
I doesn’t appear to limit a patients choice to send email or communicate in any fashion a patient desires.
Sort of like: “I am sick ... can the Dr office reach out to me by phone ?
Too many medical places now use call centers that are just another wasteful tier to the patient to reach for help, advice and simply to setup an appointment.
I want a candidate to clean up government, starting with eliminating redundant laws and regulations. I think we need to wipe the entire slate and start anew with the Constitution.
When you have a “law factory” in D.C. with a lot of egos wanting to justify their existence by manufacturing more laws, what do we expect?
Big government = Laws.
Far too many laws yes, but the real problem is giving judges far far too much power as Gods to make new laws by twisting laws into new precedents based on personal opinions and biases. There is no base Constitutional standard anymore. They are being allowed to remove rights as they like with no accountability.
“If there is something stupid going on, there is either a tax man or a lawyer behind it. Congress is both...” - HeadOn, ca. 1990
Law keeps the democrats from stealing everything
Yes there is too much law.
Our congressmen are mostly lawyers who love to pass new laws — how many new ones added every year? Thousands.
On the millions already written & passed.
No one can keep them all.
As someone once said, every day every American breaks laws not knowing it. Inevitable.
And when do laws ever get cancelled?
None other than U.S. Supreme Court Justice Gorsuch said almost every adult in America violates at least one law, EVERY DAY, without even knowing of the law or the crime committed.
Too much law in America now equals complete lawlessness.
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