Life Without Lawyers
“momentum has carried us to a point where we no longer feel free in daily interaction. Almost any encounter carries legal risk. Lawyers are everywhere, both literally – the proportion of lawyers in the workforce almost doubled between 1970 and 2000 – and in our minds, sowing doubt into ordinary choices. Americans increasingly go through the day looking over their shoulders instead of where they want to go.”
Author Philip K. Howard
provides a direct insight into the substitution of common sense for bureaucracy in America. Common sense and responsibility is replaced with tens of thousands of pages of rules that promote inaction rather than progress. Having worked for many years in government I can attest to the ability of civil servants to skillfully avoid decisions contrary to the letter of the regulation even though they make complete sense.