RE: Steemit Basic Income Giveaway (Rules and Laws)

Laws have all sorts of consequences, both good and bad. While some laws (and regulations as well) will typically have better consequences and others much worse, most laws have both good and bad consequences. Prescription drug laws are designed to protect people from misusing drugs, but they are also made (and gamed) to increase fees to medical professionals and drug companies. These laws also take away freedom from individuals who would not abuse drugs. They can make it impossible for someone with limited means to get the drugs they need. So because laws are double-edged swords we need to be very careful about making them and changing them. We also need to have flexible interpretations of them. A lot of problems in the United States has resulted from taking human judgment out of law. Minimum sentencing, for example, has required judges to throw people in jail for life for what amounts to very minor crimes. Overall, this has decimated entire communities in the United States. Making and interpreting laws are difficult and, frankly, should be left to trained experts. However, in the US they are made by untrained politicians who often know little about what they are actually doing, and increasingly by the very industries the laws are designed to boost. The US private prison industry lobbies for longer sentencing and more laws. Why not? More people in jail means more profit for the jail owners. Also, think about the complexity of laws. In a healthcare setting, I've heard doctors and nurses complain that they must break the law every day just to care for patients. The laws are so complex in healthcare and so disruptive that they actually impede the quality and efficiency of care.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't have laws, but that we should definitely be skeptical of laws, willing to change them to address problems, and willing to let their enforcement be flexible and subject to common sense.

Proud member of #steemitbloggers @steemitbloggers

I think this resonates with me as well... to all things there is a balance of benefits and consequences. I really agree with the fact that the enforcement of laws (at least in the judicial sentencing, maybe not parking fines...) needs to have some discretion. In Australia, we had a bit of a run with mandatory sentencing for some things, and it did prove to be not as advantages as hoped...with prisons getting fuller and basically just exposing kids to criminals.... it is the problem, when some people think that simple solutions are all that are needed to fix complex situations, you never see (or perhaps choose not to see) the unintended side-effects. I would suggest that every action has unintended consequences, the trick is to see if the balance is worthwhile.