How Many More Laws Do We Need?

Everyone has heard the phrase, “There oughta be law!” when faced with an unjust situation.

Chances are, there is one.

In fact, there are likely SEVERAL laws to address whatever hypothetical situation you can come up with. These similar laws will sometimes negate each other or maybe deal with the exact same issue in opposite ways—perhaps none of it matters, since most laws are not enforced anyway.

In short, we have too MANY laws, with a significant percentage of them being redundant, unnecessary or downright stupid.

Little wonder, since we elect law-MAKERS at virtually every level of government, from city and town, municipalities, at the state level---and, of course, the big one: The United States Congress.

Check out this simplistic path for legislation from the classic movie, “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington” starring Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur in this scene. And we wonder why the whole thing is a mess?



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZFRP67sX8o&NR=1


We the People, send these men and women to their jobs as law-MAKERS with the mandate of creating NEW laws. After all, that is their name and their job description, no? New laws represent their OUTPUT. Show me a lawmaker up for re-election who has not written, co-written or sponsored new legislation and I’ll show you a loser on election day.

It is how they are judged.

And, with each new law, a small fraction of your freedom is sliced away.

If you Google the question, “How Many Laws Are There?”, the answer will be: IMPOSSIBLE to tell (given all the levels of government), but easily into the hundreds of thousands.

So let’s just take ONE sliver of the entire “law pie” (if you will) and go to a source where such things are actually kept track of. Let’s look at “Federal crimes”—and reference the U.S. Justice Department to get some stats:

Since the start of 2000, Congress has created at least 452 new crimes. As of the end of 2007, the total number of Federal crimes exceeds 4,450. There are so many criminal laws that the odds of you or I going through a lifetime without breaking AT LEAST one of them is astronomical.

For a humorous look at what the output of some of our elected officials looks like, log onto to: www.dumblaws.com and you can sort by state. Here are a few in Maine:

In Augusta, to stroll down the street playing a violin is AGAINST THE LAW.
Mercury thermometers may not be sold in the city of Freeport.
Dog leashes must not be over 8 feet in length in Waterboro.

In New Hampshire, the insanity continues-these are state laws:

It is illegal to pick seaweed up from the beach.
You may not run machinery on Sundays.
And here’s a doozy from the White Mountain National Forest:

“If a person is caught raking the beaches, picking up litter, hauling away trash, building a bench for the park, or many other kind things without a permit, he/she may be fined $150 for ”maintaining the national forest without a permit”.

Are we actually PAYING people to come up with stuff like this?

I propose that we should institute a system that for EVERY law enacted, two are repealed. A noble objective, but it's more likely gridlock will take on new meaning and that absolutely NOTHING will be passed.

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING PASSED........hmmmm

Good idea, no?

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