I think a big problem with modern western democracies is that legislation is totally decoupled from the effects its proponents claim it will produce before pass

I think a big problem with modern western democracies is that legislation is totally decoupled from the effects its proponents claim it will produce before passing it. And, legislators have gotten really good at writing laws in such a way that you can suss out any intended effect you like, with enough wordplay. Combine that with an alliance between the national media and power brokers in government, and it's basically impossible to figure what the fuck anyone in government is actually trying to do, much less whether you should support it or not. So (proponents claim) the TPP and TISA and whatever else will give every signatory nation full employment for the next 35 years, and put a check on Chinese influence in Asia, and increase education standards, and progress culture at a rate of 11 Star Wars per month, and mow your lawn, and everyone will be farting through silk, etc etc. And so then we pass this shit sandwich, and none of that stuff happens, and then... ...well, tough luck! There needs to be a hard requirement, as in baked into our constitutions, that new legislation be explicitly coupled to effects. We should not rely on our own interpretation of the proposed policies to figure it out - since ultimately the courts will interpret the law, not us. Nor should we rely on the word of the people supporting the new legislation since they are clearly biased. Rather, every new law ought to make a falsifiable claim what effects it will cause and by when. And, legislators ought to show (again, in the law itself) a reasonable chain of causes and effects that they think will bring about the intended result (so, no banning drinking on Sunday so that the Sun rises on Monday, for example). Then, if the claimed result is not achieved by the deadline agreed on, the law is immediately and automatically repealed. No Supreme Court, no public referendum - it just disappears from the books. We will need institutions similar in size and scope to our current justice system, to ensure that chains of causality baked into laws are reasonable, and that the claims they make regarding their intended effects are falsifiable. So it is a huge undertaking, naturally. But it might be worth doing anyway.