Comments on: The Simplification Mandate

By: matt joy

matt joy — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:50:02 +0000

A simple way to simplify law may be to make all existing laws expire every so often and require every lawmaker to actually read every word of legislation he/she votes on.

By: Spacer Nell

Spacer Nell — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:36:02 +0000

Half-implemented metric system, I could only wish. It’s more like not implemented at all with a few holdovers from the 1975 attempts at conversion. We really ought to grow up, bite the bullet, and go through the conversion.

By: admin

admin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:54:26 +0000

I love it. Can you imagine what a country would be like is every student had to recite the laws by heart before they could graduate?

By: Beth Avery

Beth Avery — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:35:32 +0000

When we visited Thingvellir in Iceland we were told that for most of its history the President of Iceland was required to be able to recite the entire code of law by heart when he was installed. We often think how different the law would be if that were the case of every elected official.

By: Brian Enke

Brian Enke — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:06:02 +0000

Spot on!

Whenever I give talks about NASA to others in the aerospace community, I always stress that the number one thing preventing us from achieving our goals in space is complexity.

Complexity IS most definitely an exponential function.

By: Nan Patience

Nan Patience — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:54:48 +0000

I recently wrote a post that it seems we’re living within a new truck system, “as in another day older and deeper in debt.”

By: vernon dolphin

vernon dolphin — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 20:27:29 +0000

complexity compounded geometrically has corrolaries:
unintended consequences (the clatterfall of contradictory systems),

desperate decisions by default (in the face of one ignorance and/or onerous complexity),

manipulation through obfuscation( by fine print–hard copy or on online),

gaming the system (by intervention of the rules…possible by automated slight of hand)

domination of visibility (by ownership of media).

By: James W. Marcum

James W. Marcum — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:57:55 +0000

Wonderful perspective; loved it.
Unfortunately, it’s not enough. We’re moving beyond complexity (which we use systems and hierarchy to cope with–according to H. Simon) to super-complexity, where the rules, the models, the very paradigms don’t work satisfactorily. UK’s Ron Barnett has written some interesting things about the role of the university in this new universe.

By: pedicabking

pedicabking — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:14:55 +0000

It is an excellent point that the government has all these mandates to be inclusive and have buildings and items conform to the needs of the handicapped. Yet when it comes to their own BS, they have no such rules tailoring to the abilities of “the handicapped”.

Last census, I got the “long form” at my business and was threatened with massive fines if I didn’t fill it out. I have ADD — I’m “handicapped.” Shouldn’t the government have a special “short form” of the “long form” just for us people who can’t sit still long enough to do hours of extra work for the government?

By: Don

Don — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:25:46 +0000

Incisive and and brilliant. Thoreau was absolutely correct: Sinplify, sinplify! Mandated simplicity would not be a disaster in anywhere near the dimension of the disaster we have visited upon ourselves by plotting a lazy-man’s course of law simply because we were unwilling to give their writing the thought and fore-sight they required. The best laws have always been simple: eg. The referenced Ten Commandmants, the Bill of Rights–as have other timless documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, etc. In a nation where, at least in principle, the laws belong to the people, it should be a given that 95% (at a minimum) of the people they affect should readily understand them. Passing a tax code you can’t carry in both arms not only invites non-compliance, it mandates it. Those struggling under the socialism of Eastern Europe used to observe that everything was illegal, but they never enforced the laws. The laws were just there so that at any given time, if they wanted you, that had you. Is this what we’ve willingly come to?

Brilliant editorial. Send it to the Wall Street Journmal: It belongs on their editorial page….. or the Front Page!