-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.zolatimes.com/V3.27/pageone.html <A HREF="http://www.zolatimes.com/V3.27/pageone.html">Laissez Faire City Times </A>----- Laissez Faire City Times July 5, 1999 - Volume 3, Issue 27 Editor & Chief: Emile Zola ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Systems Thinking & Legislative Failures by James Wright "Functional organization. How does one design an electric motor? Would you attach a bathtub to it, simply because one is available? Would a bouquet of flowers help? A heap of rocks? No, you would use just those elements necessary to its purpose and make it no larger than needed—and you would incorporate safety factors. Function controls design." —Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress The first principle is to reject the impulse to legislate everything. A new law is not needed just because an event captures the attention of the national media. Recent events involving guns do not justify stricter handgun controls; they don’t even justify greater efforts to enforce existing laws. They do justify a query; why did the existing laws fail, and if they did fail, why are they on the books? I heard varying numbers in Congressional debate, the most common being eighteen separate laws that the school-age shooters in Colorado managed to circumvent. Congress is quite capable of writing any number of laws, and expanding the bureaucracies that try to implement and enforce them exponentially; if this has not functioned in the past, why repeat the same wasteful efforts? One definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. Another point is that there were eighteen laws already passed that penalized this behavior. Why were there so many to begin with? Here is another problem presenting itself for solution; there is no force or constraint that minimizes legislation to a necessary minimum. We need to create or introduce a force that trims away and whittles down legislation to the least amount possible, and keeps trying to reduce it further. The quote from Heinlein above was actually used to describe the structure of a revolutionary organization, but it can apply to legislation as well. The logic applies to nearly any design: the lean, clean efficiency of a cheetah, a bridge or a haiku. Evolutionary pressures grind and reduce the lines of a cheetah to minimal but certain lethality; a bridge is mathematics and stress analysis carried to a logical choice. Even a haiku is the result of centuries of Japanese aesthetics, critically and continually pruned and polished to perfection. Why should legislation be any different? It could be, if we choose to subject it to the same criteria. The first and obvious rule is that legislation should be no broader or longer than necessary. This rule is flunked by many bills that are proposed today, and certainly those generally called "Omnibus" bills. Omnibus health care reform was a socialist nightmare, omnibus spending bills are pork barrels on steroids, and the omnibus crime bills are intrusions on personal freedom beyond Orwell’s darkest dreams. No legislation should be written which addresses more than one concern, and the overall goal should be to write as few laws as possible. Another good suggestion comes from L. Neil Smith’s "Lever Action Essay" at http://webleyweb.com/lneil/antmen.html . Islamic children are generally required to memorize the Koran; certainly the Ten Commandments and the Noble Eightfold Path are short, thorough and clear enough to allow understanding. As a nation, our goal should be to have national legislation that mimics the clarity and brevity of these codes. Complex Systems Complex systems that work invariably arise from simple systems that work. Automobiles are collections of wheels, axles, pistons, cylinders, spark plugs and so on. Henry Ford was not required to invent all of these systems; he was able to mass-produce them successfully. On the other hand, have you ever read the entire Internal Revenue System Code? Of course not, neither have I; it runs to thousands of pages. Likewise, the Environmental Protection Act, the Social Security Act, the laws that cover Equal Opportunity, the S.E.C., the Federal Reserve, and so forth are behemoths. None of these sprang from simple systems that were tried and perfected over generations; all were the "total inspirations" of a single or small group of legislators, and all are woefully overblown and impossible for ordinary citizens to understand. They have created immense bureaucracies, cumbersome regulations and draconian penalties for non-compliance. If our country is ever to have a hope of being "the land of the free and the home of the brave" again, we have to dismantle these archaic heaps of legalese and start over. To assist this, all laws should have an automatic "sunset" provision, similar to that which will kill the Special Prosecutor law soon; not because the Special Prosecutors didn’t work (they generally did work, especially recently) but because ALL laws should expire unless a need for them is proven, repeatedly, fairly frequently. Every system is perfectly designed, carefully maintained and precisely operated to give you exactly what you get. The reverse of this statement is also true: A system will not give you what it was not designed, maintained and operated to provide. Where does this lead, in relation to legislation? Will our legislators protect us? Will the laws that they pass keep the evil ones away from our shores, our doors and our bedrooms? The laws they passed did not keep the children safe in Colorado, any more than they protected the women and children in Waco or Ruby Ridge, or the Japanese interned during World War II. Prohibition did not create the sober, moral citizenry that the lawmakers hoped to raise. Legislation does not prevent crime, disease or immorality. It merely gives the authorities an excuse to prosecute the perpetrators after the dust settles. It also gives the government new reasons to limit your freedom, under the cover of "the public good", "being tough on crime", and so forth. If we cannot expect protection from our legislators, then perhaps we need to reduce legislation to protect ourselves from our government. A Plethora of Laws Are you a criminal? Can you honestly and certainly state that you are NOT in violation of: 1) The Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973; 2) The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970; 3) The Securities Exchange Act (15 USCS SS 78a et seq.) 4) The Bank Holding Company Act of 1956; 5) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; 6) All the other federal laws not mentioned above? Remember, ignorance of the law is not an excuse! Overconstrained systems will oscillate to destruction. The way out of this trap is to reduce the laws to a manageable minimum, and make it possible for an individual to plead his own case, competently and successfully, in a court of law without the use of a lawyer. Otherwise, the "rule of law" we claim to operate under is a laughable sham, when it isn’t a travesty of justice. How can one be held liable and responsible under laws that one has never heard of, much less read? Further to the above, the Preamble of the Constitution states: "We the people... to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity..." These seven goals were the original purpose of the government, and none other. Everything since then has been "tinkering", trying to make the original serve purposes that it was not intended to perform. There is nothing in the Constitution that requires a Department of Education, or any role for the government therein. Likewise, the Department of Commerce is not authorized, nor the Department of Environmental Protection, nor the Department of Transportation or Department of Energy. Is there any real need for any of these? Could these functions be performed by the states, and at what savings of time, manpower, money? Function controls design. When legislation is created to satisfy political whims, empower one special interest over another, react to anomalous events or simply increase federal powers over the citizens, the nation as a whole suffers. There are still, however, remedies available to show our legislators where they stray from reason. Possible Remedies The jury box. "Jury nullification", a swear phrase to some judges and lawyers, is still legal and viable. The jury can simply refuse to convict, as in the Laura Kriho instance. If enough juries refuse to convict anyone under a given law, the prosecutors, sensing a lost cause, will refuse to prosecute. This needs to happen much more often than it does. And the jury needs to state that the laws that they are refusing to maintain are failures, and should be removed from the books. The wisdom of twelve ordinary citizens may be greater than that of any number of legislators, and they should use it. For more information, see http://nowscape.com/fija/fija_us.htm. The ballot box. There are some who claim that the election processes are corrupted, but this is problematical. It would be clear if a large group started voting in a new pattern, say for Libertarian candidates, and none or few were elected. In any case, the ballot box must be used to weed out those who are unfit for office, and all those who support those who are unfit for office. This "natural selection" process is highly desirable, and could be supplemented by term limits as well. There is no indication that the Framers of the Constitution ever intended anyone (except possibly judges) to retire with a government pension. The cartridge box. The Second Amendment, about which so much bile is spewed in the national media, is the guarantor of all the other rights in the nation. Recent handgun sales increases are an indicator that if guns are outlawed, quite a few will be available to punish those who legislate such laws. Note that outlawing guns, like any other form of prohibition, will not stop their sale and possession, but will create a thriving black market in guns, and drive many that don’t now feel the need to own one into buying one out of self-protection. Forget about "gun registration"! It is a political truism that "the public’s memory is short". We do remember, however, when a given legislator has scandal, fraud or deceit attached to his name, we can choose not to retain him in office. While a Senator can use a clause in the Constitution to skip out on a traffic accident, the voters of his state can remember and use that to discharge him in the next election (so much for the "conscience of the Senate"). And until that time arrives, we can as juries refuse to endorse the most nebulous fantasies that our legislators create in the name of "doing the business of the People". ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The "James Wright" system has inputs of money, love and time; it has outputs of a family of four, engineering designs and occasional articles to Laissez Faire City Times, among others. Details can be discussed at [EMAIL PROTECTED] -30- from The Laissez Faire City Times, Vol 3, No 27, July 5, 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Published by Laissez Faire City Netcasting Group, Inc. Copyright 1998 - Trademark Registered with LFC Public Registrar All Rights Reserved ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End Kris DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
