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> Musk is correct in insisting that laws should expire This is a terrible idea. Stability and gradual, generally understandable, evolution in response to real
by CPLX 9y ago
> Musk is correct in insisting that laws should expire
This is a terrible idea. Stability and gradual, generally understandable, evolution in response to real world conditions are positive attributes of the current precedent-based system that has grown out of the common law.
- mooneater 9y agoThe current default is accretion. There is no end to it. We will drown in laws.
- milankovic 9y agoI disagree. Of all ideas, I think this is his best one.
- ceejayoz 9y agoIt's a great idea until "no murder" gets held up by the minority party to win leverage on some other issue. There'd always be some critical law to play chicken with.
- jstarfish 9y agoWhy? What's so bad about forcing us to re-evaluate the reasons why given laws are on the books? Plenty of laws are relevant only to a specific point in time, but they rarely, if ever, get repealed. Take the US Chicken Tax. It was put in place in the 60s to deal with economic concerns with France and West Germany at the time (which no longer exists as such!). Why shouldn't it have been given an expiration date? Instead, it remains in perpetuity, with its provisions twisted every few years to suit the interests of auto industry lobbyists. This is perverse.
- jkaplowitz 9y agoSome laws, like that one, should be enacted with an expiration date. Some laws even are - e.g. a lot of the post-9/11 surveillance state laws need periodic reauthorization. Plenty of other taxes are enacted as temporary, too, despite how routinely they're extended. But not all laws should expire. Having, say, the crime of murder expire would be quite unhelpful.
- WhyNotHugo 9y ago> But not all laws should expire. Having, say, the crime of murder expire would be quite unhelpful. I'm pretty sure that laws like that one would be renewed before expiration anyway -- and the current context would allow re-evaluation of penalty as well, which might be something useful to reconsider every couple of decades.
- jkaplowitz 9y agoIt would be an excuse for political and legislative brinkmanship on a schedule. They can always make changes to the details without a clock adding artificial urgency. It's clear it's the kind of law we want on the books, and to have a penalty on the books, indefinitely. Unlike, say, the chicken tax.
- s73v3r_ 9y agoBut that renewal provides a hook for legislators to attach all kinds of distasteful things to it.
- recursive 9y agoOne question then, is whether laws are generally more like murder, or more like the chicken tax. I don't know, but I suspect there are more chicken-tax-like laws by a considerable margin.