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It's a slippery slope in both directions. In one direction you give power to governmental organisations. In the other you give power to corporations. Neither of

It's a slippery slope in both directions. In one direction you give power to governmental organisations. In the other you give power to corporations. Neither of those things are good from the point of view of democracy. IMO the fact that US culture is utterly intolerant of any kind of "spirit of the law" governance is one of the reasons why America can't have nice things. It's regulatory bodies have other problems, but one of the main ones is that they are toothless because they generally aren't given any real power. Where they are (such as the FAA), they're often much more effective.

FpUser 5y ago
>"In the other you give power to corporations." Nope. Once caught bug in law, fix it. But don't punish people / corps for failure to "guess". One more time. Iam not law maker and it is not my job. >"that US culture is utterly intolerant" I am in Canada. Not the US. >"why America can't have nice things" I do not get it. Sure there is a lot of awful thing in the US. And an awful lot of good things as well. Just as everywhere (assuming developed countries).
- nicoburns 5y ago
  > But don't punish people / corps for failure to "guess". You don't punish people for failure to guess (you may warn them if necessary). You punish people for flagrantly violating the law. Do you really think the creators of the railroad in this article didn't know that this wasn't what the law intended? It's infeasible to update laws in response to every violation - the process takes too long - so we need a lighter weight process that can keep up. You keep that process in check by updating laws where it oversteps the mark.
  - landemva 5y ago
    The lightweight response is to repeal the law.
  - shuntress 5y ago
    The system you are working towards already exists: Courts and precedence.
landemva 5y ago
' US culture is utterly intolerant of any kind of "spirit of the law" governance ...' yet USA tolerates government immunity which leads to government bad actors having little fear of being successfully sued.
- nicoburns 5y ago
  US lawsuit culture is a whole other kettle of fish! I agree that government officials shouldn't have special protections that others don't have. On the other hand, I feel like an approach where there was greater collective responsibility such that suing individuals wasn't such a large part of the culture would be a huge benefit. For example, better health coverage such that individuals aren't on the hook for other people's medical bills.

FpUser 5y ago

>"In the other you give power to corporations." Nope. Once caught bug in law, fix it. But don't punish people / corps for failure to "guess". One more time. Iam not law maker and it is not my job. >"that US culture is utterly intolerant" I am in Canada. Not the US. >"why America can't have nice things" I do not get it. Sure there is a lot of awful thing in the US. And an awful lot of good things as well. Just as everywhere (assuming developed countries).

nicoburns 5y ago
> But don't punish people / corps for failure to "guess". You don't punish people for failure to guess (you may warn them if necessary). You punish people for flagrantly violating the law. Do you really think the creators of the railroad in this article didn't know that this wasn't what the law intended? It's infeasible to update laws in response to every violation - the process takes too long - so we need a lighter weight process that can keep up. You keep that process in check by updating laws where it oversteps the mark.
- landemva 5y ago
  The lightweight response is to repeal the law.
- shuntress 5y ago
  The system you are working towards already exists: Courts and precedence.

landemva 5y ago

' US culture is utterly intolerant of any kind of "spirit of the law" governance ...' yet USA tolerates government immunity which leads to government bad actors having little fear of being successfully sued.

nicoburns 5y ago
US lawsuit culture is a whole other kettle of fish! I agree that government officials shouldn't have special protections that others don't have. On the other hand, I feel like an approach where there was greater collective responsibility such that suing individuals wasn't such a large part of the culture would be a huge benefit. For example, better health coverage such that individuals aren't on the hook for other people's medical bills.