Office of the Repealer?

Don · Jun 13, 2010

One Candidate’s Idea: Office of the Repealer

In some corners of the country, people seem to have grown so grumpy about the tangle of government rules and regulations that it may be easier for politicians to promise not what they will do, but what they will undo.

Take Senator Sam Brownback, the Republican from Kansas who is hoping to become governor. In his journeys in this region lately, he has proposed a new Kansas entity, the State Office of the Repealer, whose job it would be to start disposing of all the silly, needless, over-the-top regulations that state officials have dreamed up.

“People just love this idea,” Mr. Brownback said here the other day, smiling broadly. “They feel like they’re getting their brains regulated out of them.”

Case in point, in Mr. Brownback’s telling: the rejoicing of residents in Saline County, Kan., when a strict fireworks ban was lifted there. Mr. Brownback recalled the mood: “It was kind of like, ‘I got a little piece of liberty back!’ ”

I think he's been reading Heinlein. :hooray:

I note one proposal to make this Congress a two-house body. Excellent— the more impediments to legislation the better. But, instead of following tradition, I suggest one house of legislators, another whose single duty is to repeal laws. Let the legislators pass laws only with a two-thirds majority... while the repealers are able to cancel any law through a mere one-third minority.

Preposterous? Think about it. If a bill is so poor that it cannot command two-thirds of your consents, is it not likely that it would make a poor law? And if a law is disliked by as many as one-third is it not likely that you would be better off without it?

I think we just found a new use for the House of Representatives.

Romantic Heretic · Jun 13, 2010

So, he wants to appoint someone to decide unilaterally which laws hold and which ones don't? Without call to the legislature or the courts?

That sounds a lot like a dictatorship to me.

SPMiller · Jun 13, 2010

The idea obviously won't fly.

But in theory, who would get to decide what the criteria are for determining whether any particular regulation is, and I quote, "silly, needless, [and] over-the-top"? Something tells me there would be vehement disagreement on this point.

The only reasonable criterion for dismissing a law outside a legislative repeal is, as far as I can tell, unconstitutionality--and what do you know, we already have judicial bodies to handle that.

rugcat · Jun 13, 2010

Case in point, in Mr. Brownback’s telling: the rejoicing of residents in Saline County, Kan., when a strict fireworks ban was lifted there. Mr. Brownback recalled the mood: “It was kind of like, ‘I got a little piece of liberty back!’

I'm guessing the mood in the firehouses was a bit different.

In a related story Brownback suggested repealing the law of evolution.

Don · Jun 13, 2010

Yeah, I guess it's a horrible idea, since the only way to do it would be by dictatorial decree. It would certainly be impossible to write proposed legislation and submit it to the legislature, or draft propositions to be presented to the people for a vote, or file suit to challenge the constitutionality of particular laws.

I'm sure the fireworks ban disappeared simply because someone snuck into the courthouse in the middle of the night and drew a line through it in the lawbooks.

What an amazing strawman speculation, that the whole legal process used to create laws in the first place would naturally be totally ignored when it comes time to repeal them.

If the world works like that, why didn't Obama simply wave his hand and declare "Let there be free healthcare throughout the land?"

ETA: Oh, and nice job on the ad hominem, rc.

Gregg · Jun 13, 2010

Every state has silly laws - here's a website that lists one for every state:

http://foodstamp.aphsa.org/01wkshps/AllStatesHaveSillyLaws.pdf

Perhaps it would be better if we put a "Do Nothing" Party in power. Imagine the money we'd save by just eliminating congressional staff, congressional travel; there would be no need for lobbyists -

donroc · Jun 13, 2010

I can visualize a masked caballero sneaking into assorted legislative offices and marKing legislation with a big R for Repeal.

Synonym · Jun 13, 2010

(quote)
Mr. Brownback, who said he came up with the idea after traveling around Kansas with a former state lawmaker, said he had grown increasingly frustrated with the sense, in government, that “it’s always, ‘Well, we need this, we need that, we need this.’ Nothing is ever subtracted in the system.”

The repealer, he said, would not mean yet another government salary, but would come from an existing state position, reassigned to the task of elimination. Still uncertain, he acknowledged, is what the new position might cost or where it would fit, exactly, into the existing layers of government in Topeka, the state capital. (end quote)

Brownback promised, if elected, he would only serve two terms in the Senate and get out. He did what he promised. If he says he will find someone to repeal some of the bureaucratic nonsense that has a choke hold on the people of Kansas, either because of unintended consequences or out-dated usefulness, he will probably do it.

Why is it only better to add more and more laws? Can't you think of a few that are ripe for picking from the law books?

Here's a link to the article about the fireworks ban being lifted. If it's too dry, which increases the fire-hazard risk, a burn-ban will cover fireworks. Handy, isn't it? An already existing law will take care of an intermittent problem. (Speaking from personal experience, all this did was send the folks in Salina out into the neighboring towns to buy and shoot off their fireworks. If the smaller fire-districts had a problem with this, I'm not seeing it.)

rugcat · Jun 13, 2010

Don said:
ETA: Oh, and nice job on the ad hominem, rc.

You know, the idea that ad homineums are somehow automatically invalid is something I've never understood.

When someone has a record of totally idiotic and absurd positions, or demonstrates a complete lack of understanding about certain issues, that is something worth noting when they address other issues.

The planning commission had voted 7-1 to deny the zoning change, and Ron Turner, chief of Rural Fire District No. 5, pointed out that his department responded to 27 fire calls on a single weekend.

This has nothing to do with personal liberty; it's about public safety. Or perhaps it is about freedom, if you consider the right to burn down your neighbors house as falling under the freedom banner. (As happened in my neighborhood last July 4 -- gosh, sorry, it was an accident.)

Don · Jun 13, 2010

rugcat said:
This has nothing to do with personal liberty; it's about public safety.

Gee, that sounds familiar. I wonder why... oh, yeah.

Benjamin Franklin said:
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

I know, what with him being a terrorist, gun-owner, and rich person, he's got three strikes against him, but he was an abolitionist. That should count for something.

Synonym · Jun 13, 2010

rugcat said:
This has nothing to do with personal liberty; it's about public safety. Or perhaps it is about freedom, if you consider the right to burn down your neighbors house as falling under the freedom banner. (As happened in my neighborhood last July 4 -- gosh, sorry, it was an accident.)

I am sorry about your neighbor's house. You apologized profusely, I'm sure.

Seriously, designated areas to shoot off fireworks...is that a problem? Bottle rockets are already banned, statewide. And, Salina Kansas is not that crowded. And accidents are going to happen, can't regulate them out of existence. It could have easily been a back yard bar-b-que gone bad on any other day.

rugcat · Jun 13, 2010

Yeah, who is the government to tell me I can't randomly fire off a gun on a crowded street if I feel like it.

Nice appeal to authority with Ben Franklin, though. ( Who, btw, established the first fire department.)

Don · Jun 13, 2010

rugcat said:
Yeah, who is the government to tell me I can't randomly fire off a gun on a crowded street if I feel like it.

Nice appeal to authority with Ben Franklin, though. ( Who, btw, established the first fire department.)

...and still never proposed banning fireworks.

rugcat · Jun 13, 2010

Synonym said:
Seriously, designated areas to shoot off fireworks...is that a problem? Bottle rockets are already banned, statewide. And, Salina Kansas is not that crowded. And accidents are going to happen, can't regulate them out of existence. It could have easily been a back yard bar-b-que gone bad on any other day.

I have no problem with fireworks. But I do believe, from observation, that many people who set them off have absolutely no common sense. And fireworks do often spark unintended fires, so some regulation is a sensible idea.

As is an outright ban in certain circumstances -- such in high brush areas in the middle of a summer drought.

My point is only that we're talking about a safety issue here. People may disagree over the exact necessity of particular regulations, but making it into a question of personal liberty vs government control is just silly.

Alamanach · Jun 13, 2010

rugcat said:
You know, the idea that ad homineums are somehow automatically invalid is something I've never understood.

When someone has a record of totally idiotic and absurd positions, or demonstrates a complete lack of understanding about certain issues, that is something worth noting when they address other issues.

rugcat said:
Yeah, who is the government to tell me I can't randomly fire off a gun on a crowded street if I feel like it.

Nice appeal to authority with Ben Franklin, though. ( Who, btw, established the first fire department.)

Wait... what? What are you saying? If an appeal to authority is an invalid form of argument, then how could ad hominems have any validity?

Michael Wolfe · Jun 13, 2010

As I understand it, an argument from authority means arguing that something is true merely because someone else - an authority of some kind - said so.

That's not quite the same thing as quoting someone - like Ben Franklin in this case - for the purpose of backing up a position.

I find that much of the time, it's necessary to know more about what the person meant to do by quoting someone, in order to figure out if there's an actual argument from authority. Unless the person makes it obvious by saying something like, "X is true because so and so said it was true."

Synonym · Jun 13, 2010

I'm a resident of this pig-headed state--populated with agricultural and city folks, red-necks and quasi-intellectuals. We're tired of some politicians trying to regulate us into perfection. Sick of it actually and also cursed with a high percentage of do-it-yourself types who think the Darwin Awards should be on television, much like the Academy Awards. (Only as a possible deterrent to others from winning a Darwin of course, we'd never find human stupidity entertaining...nope.)

Commissioner Reynolds hit it right on the head when he said that government is sending the message that Americans are too incompetent to take care of themselves. There is a fire ban in place that can be used when it's too dry. They changed the county zoning law to permit fireworks in unincorporated places and require signed permission if it is on someone else's property. They didn't say some arse could stand next door and shoot roman candles at your house. Then you call the police, who would be pleased to visit with your fine neighbor. Criminally stupid behavior attracts law enforcement for some reason, as it should.

This little discussion is more about the symptoms of a much larger displeasure by citizens of what they consider too much government encroachment. Nanny statism, in other words.

Office of the Repealer?

Don

All Living is Local

Romantic Heretic

uncoerced

SPMiller

Prodigiously Hanged

rugcat

Lost in the Fog

Don

All Living is Local

Gregg

Life is good

donroc

Historicals and Horror rule

Synonym

rugcat

Lost in the Fog

Don

All Living is Local

Synonym

rugcat

Lost in the Fog

Don

All Living is Local

rugcat

Lost in the Fog

Alamanach

Counterinsurgent

Michael Wolfe

Jambo Bwana

Synonym