Legislation
I’ve recently noticed a worrying trend. Legislators are, more often than not, idiots.
It’s quite possible this was always the case and I just wasn’t fully aware of it, but it’s become increasingly apparent to me that the act of legislation, laying grounds to the principles by which our society functions, is done based on the whims of utter buffoons.
A few recent examples in Israel illuminated without any reasonable doubt that MKs suggest laws lacking any empirical or rational justification. A few months ago, MK Ruhama Avraham suggested a law that would restrict pubs and nightclubs from operating past 2:00 with some incoherent reasoning that this would reduce alcohol consumption and thus, teen violence and automobile accidents. In my e-mail to her, not only did I ask her where is the empirical evidence supporting her hypothesis (a reasonable demand before one breaks a whole market sector on a whim), but suggested a reasonable and coherent alternative hypothesis, as well as logically sound alternative suggestions to deal with the goals at hand. If we want to reduce the number of victims and death toll of automobile accidents, all that is required is differential taxation on safer cars. Even without empirical evidence, one can logically deduce that this move will necessarily bring about less accidents, and less severe injury and death in the accidents which do take place. It’s simple logic. Safer cars become cheaper => More safer cars on the road replacing less-safe cars => Less (and less severe) accidents.
I read today of another example of our bumbling legislation, where MK Yoram Marziano suggested a law that would require teenagers to leave clubs before midnight. This is contrary to what Dr. Kedman of Child Welfare Society recommends. Kedman reputedly said that the suggested law is based on false premises; violence occurs outside of clubs, not inside them, and not between teenagers, but an older crowd.
Clearly, this law was well thought through.
I remember laughing a couple of years back when the Israeli Legalize It Party sent a video clip (this was before youtube) of an interview they held with then-head of the Knesset’s parliamentary narcotics commission, where he said that marijuana causes hallucinations, is addictive, and leads users to burglary (huh?), theft (wuh?), and murder (sure.), and generally appeared rather ignorant on the subject under his legislative jurisdiction.
Then I thought “well, it’s outrageous, but it’s drugs, nobody takes drugs seriously in Israel anyway, we’re just abiding by USA dictated drug policy,” but now I think maybe it simply all looks just like that.
A few weeks ago another MK suggested that all Israeli must register with their true names on talkback forums on the internet. Clearly, terrific understanding of what the internet is (and what civil rights are). A few months back yet another MK suggested an uber-DMCA law, which would (in it’s current phrasing) restrict basic internet applications like e-mail and web browsing, as well as any and all legitimate p2p. Answering my e-mail to him, he said he “realizes the outcry of pirates, but really, something must be done.” or somesuch. I sent him links to Lawrence Lessig books. His other suggestion, an internet tax is nothing but collective punishment, where the greatest sufferers are naturally the economically weak, students, and those just on the border of the digital divide. And this is from a socialist MK. Again, clearly, well-thought through legislation.
How can it be that laws are passed without any proper justification? How can MKs even vote for laws when the justification behind them is never presented to them? Is everything simply a matter of.. what.. Opinion?
This is MADNESS.
No, this is Sparta.
Tagged as idiocracy, idiocy, Knesset, lawmaking, legislation, Parliamantarianism, populism, Representational Democracy + Categorized as Current Events, Social Politics
Sometimes I just think that we need to get the Turkish rule back to Israel. An Eye for an Eye, a hand for a theft and d**k for a rape.
I’ve seen an interview with some MK that said he just don’t have time (and probably brain power) to read every legislative offer that comes up for voting.
They just read the executive summary of the major proposals and that’s it.
Now how fucked up is that?
Now I’m not talking about ministers who have some other job function to perform (which they hardly do anyway), but the rest of members of the Knesset (which is 120-X where X can be anything from 15 to 30 depending on the government at hand). Can’t they just fucking do their job (and proposing stupid rules without adequate research is not their job) by reading MOST (not just the major) law proposals and proposing, when necessary and adequate, new laws that will actually make sense and will be backed by hard undisputed facts?
I really don’t want to prove right to all those who say that giving us a country was the best way of us getting rid of ourselves.
Perhaps we do need to federate some of these processes, reducing the “HARD” work of reading law proposals and checking their facts from the all knowing members of the Knesset and replace it with various committees that will be publicly elected that will actually do this job.
I’m running out of ideas for this one and in the mean time some MKs are running the country off its tracks.
I’m glad I’m not the only person who thinks this has totally gone off-track.
While I can see the democratic principle underlying the idea that even an imbecile and an ignorant can and should be allowed to run for parliament, I find it rather disturbing how frequently this seems to be employed.
I also object to the prevailing trend of appointing MKs as ministers. One job has almost nothing to do with the other, and it begs the question of conflicting interests and separation of powers.
Perhaps (like everything else in this country) legislation could be sent out to primary and secondary contractors. People who’ll be paid to actually do the legislative work, with the MK just giving his seal of approval or something. Maybe we got a startup?
I was thinking myself about going back to a tribal way of things and adopt from it the Council of the Elders.
Instead of outsourcing legislation matters into contractors (god knows we have enough lawyers in Israel), we will organize a group of Elders with extensive knowledge in the various fields like economy, sociology, political sciences, military, etc that will actually lead the country. They will be chosen upon enough past experience not by the central bodies and various parties or just by the whinings of the people close to them that elected them.
Regarding the sub contracting of law makings and such, the problem will probably be with the bidding process and it will become all corrupted and such…
Perhaps we can utilize the Elders technique here as well, taking only judges and long time lawyers into this council of legislators.
The only problem with technocracies is that they are invariably non-democratic, leading eventually to even further corruption. You know the old saying about power and corruption…
This must be what Plato meant when he said (well, not exactly) that democracy was the best of a bad lot.