It feels like in the US that in many areas of the law, enforcement has been outsourced to private enterprise. See eg regulatory capture of the SEC by the banks

It feels like in the US that in many areas of the law, enforcement has been outsourced to private enterprise. See eg regulatory capture of the SEC by the banks, Bush appointees in the FDA (Daniel Troy was appointed to be chief counsel; he essentially opposes the existence of the fda and is a tool of the drug companies [1]), Bush appointees to the EPA (Jeffrey Holmstead, who previously a lawyer for energy companies fighting pollution controls), Bush appointees to the USDA (Chuck Lambert, a former cattleman's association lobbyist who famously promised congress that mad cow would never enter the US 6 months before mad cow was found in the US, particularly in the context of the fight to prevent country of origin labeling), etc etc etc. Major governmental organizations have intentionally been prevented from carrying out enforcement of their areas of the law by appointing executives that oppose the relevant laws or policies. So lawyers, particularly with class action lawsuits, and NGOs such as the sierra club, Greenpeace, etc, use the courts to compel enforcement of the law. [1] http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/030324/24fda.htm http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/030324/24fda... [2] http://www.polluterwatch.com/jeffrey-holmstead http://www.polluterwatch.com/jeffrey-holmstead [3] http://www.kiwicando.com/Generic%20international%20activism%20tool/USDA.html http://www.kiwicando.com/Generic%20international%20activism%...