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Should ALL laws sunset after 10 years?

Should ALL laws sunset after 10 years?

  • yes, laws need to be constantly reviewed

    Votes: 14 43.8%
  • no, laws should be forever until replaced

    Votes: 9 28.1%
  • Other - explain in thread

    Votes: 8 25.0%
  • Welcome To Costco I Love You

    Votes: 1 3.1%

  • Total voters
    32
Joined
Jan 2, 2015
Messages
10,734
Reaction score
2,142
Location
Las Vegas
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Libertarian - Right
I was looking at the astounding number of federal laws passed every single year, and it occurred to me: part of the problem is that elected officials feel the need to "do something". With millions of laws on the books, all they can do is make more and more laws, which further and further stifle us as a country.



I propose that all laws not specifically enumerated in The Constitution expire after 10 years.

This would give us

A) something for the politicians to "do" without thinking of new crap to tie us up with
B) it would mean "bad" law doesn't last for decades (NFA Act '37 for example)
C) It would mean law more closely matches the current political makeup. No ramming something through in the dead of the night which is still there years later, even though it was passed through deceit and legislative maneuvering ala ObamaCare, Social Security etc....
 
I was looking at the astounding number of federal laws passed every single year, and it occurred to me: part of the problem is that elected officials feel the need to "do something". With millions of laws on the books, all they can do is make more and more laws, which further and further stifle us as a country.



I propose that all laws not specifically enumerated in The Constitution expire after 10 years.

This would give us

A) something for the politicians to "do" without thinking of new crap to tie us up with
B) it would mean "bad" law doesn't last for decades (NFA Act '37 for example)
C) It would mean law more closely matches the current political makeup. No ramming something through in the dead of the night which is still there years later, even though it was passed through deceit and legislative maneuvering ala ObamaCare, Social Security etc....

Well, I wanted to check option 1 because there was something I liked in it, namely looking at laws every 10 years. I don't know that we should automatically sunset anything without looking at it. And the world changes so much, constantly, that I think it's wise to have to review them and improve them. 10 years seems like a reasonable number IMO.
 
I was looking at the astounding number of federal laws passed every single year, and it occurred to me: part of the problem is that elected officials feel the need to "do something". With millions of laws on the books, all they can do is make more and more laws, which further and further stifle us as a country.



I propose that all laws not specifically enumerated in The Constitution expire after 10 years.

This would give us

A) something for the politicians to "do" without thinking of new crap to tie us up with
B) it would mean "bad" law doesn't last for decades (NFA Act '37 for example)
C) It would mean law more closely matches the current political makeup. No ramming something through in the dead of the night which is still there years later, even though it was passed through deceit and legislative maneuvering ala ObamaCare, Social Security etc....

I propose that all federal laws not specific to an enumerated federal power disappear immediately - not after 10 years. The problem is that far too many federal laws are based on derived powers, e.g. PPACA is based on the 16A power to tax "income from all sources" which never states that taxation may be based on how income was later NOT spent. In other words, any federal individual/business mandate may become "constitutionally valid" if it is enforced by the IRS using a tax penalty.
 
More right wing anti-government nonsense that we should recognize for exactly what it is.
 
If there is nothing wrong with the law it should continue.
 
I was looking at the astounding number of federal laws passed every single year, and it occurred to me: part of the problem is that elected officials feel the need to "do something". With millions of laws on the books, all they can do is make more and more laws, which further and further stifle us as a country.



I propose that all laws not specifically enumerated in The Constitution expire after 10 years.

This would give us

A) something for the politicians to "do" without thinking of new crap to tie us up with
B) it would mean "bad" law doesn't last for decades (NFA Act '37 for example)
C) It would mean law more closely matches the current political makeup. No ramming something through in the dead of the night which is still there years later, even though it was passed through deceit and legislative maneuvering ala ObamaCare, Social Security etc....



Well, I've heard this proposal before (10-20 yr span), and it is interesting. It would help keep them busy, yes. It would make it hard for bad laws and such to persist for decades. It would make it harder for highly partisan legislation to remain in place for decades, as the composition of the Congress changed.

However, there's a side effect: GOOD laws that one side doesn't like would end up sunsetting also. All it would take would be a strong partisan hold on Congress at the time the sunset provision came up.


Instead of having ALL laws sunset after 10 years, I think SOME laws should sunset after 10 years unless re-passed. Under that heading of "some", I think I'd propose the following list:

1. All laws which can be construed to limit an Enumerated right of the Bill of Rights.
2. All laws which are not covered under Article 1 Section 8.
3. All Federal bureaus and agencies not defined in the Constitution must be re-affirmed every 10 years and re-justify their budget from a zero-dollar baseline.
4. Any laws which have been reviewed by SCOTUS and found to enhance or enable an enumerated right of the BOR are exempted from the sunset provision.

Just some thoughts...
 
I got another idea: how about for every new law created an existing law must be repealed.
 
Every ten years a law must be reviewed.

Auto-destroy seems stupid to me.
 
Some should and some shouldn't. It is simpleton thinkings to look at topics as absolutes. Accordingly this is a poll is deficient in choices.
 
I was looking at the astounding number of federal laws passed every single year, and it occurred to me: part of the problem is that elected officials feel the need to "do something". With millions of laws on the books, all they can do is make more and more laws, which further and further stifle us

I propose that all laws not specifically enumerated in The Constitution expire after 10 years.

This would give us

A) something for the politicians to "do" without thinking of new crap to tie us up with
B) it would mean "bad" law doesn't last for decades (NFA Act '37 for example)
C) It would mean law more closely matches the current political makeup. No ramming something through in the dead of the night which is still there years later, even though it was passed through deceit and legislative maneuvering ala ObamaCare, Social Security etc....
"Stifle" ??
Only your opinion, sir .
NOT fact.
All of our laws should be reviewed , carefully .. To NOT do this is sloth , laziness .. even anti-American .
 
I got another idea: how about for every new law created an existing law must be repealed.
IMO, not a good idea.
Repealing for the sake of repealing .. sick !
However, a law designed in the 1600s and written in the 1800s should be, must be reviewed.
 
If there is nothing wrong with the law it should continue.
Define "nothing wrong" .
The ACA law, if every conservative in against it (52%, I think) and every liberal supports it, would you not find this to be strange .. even suspicious ?
 
I was looking at the astounding number of federal laws passed every single year, and it occurred to me: part of the problem is that elected officials feel the need to "do something". With millions of laws on the books, all they can do is make more and more laws, which further and further stifle us as a country.



I propose that all laws not specifically enumerated in The Constitution expire after 10 years.

This would give us

A) something for the politicians to "do" without thinking of new crap to tie us up with
B) it would mean "bad" law doesn't last for decades (NFA Act '37 for example)
C) It would mean law more closely matches the current political makeup. No ramming something through in the dead of the night which is still there years later, even though it was passed through deceit and legislative maneuvering ala ObamaCare, Social Security etc....

I think the idea is sound, if the Constitution is excluded. Big workload though.
 
Come to think of it, I think I'd prefer to sunset POLITICIANS every ten years.... :D
 
IMO, not a good idea.
Repealing for the sake of repealing .. sick !
However, a law designed in the 1600s and written in the 1800s should be, must be reviewed.

The idea is to reduce the number and complexity of laws by weeding out the ones that do not stand the test of time. The automatic knock-out is to countermand the lethargy of systems.
 
More right wing anti-government nonsense that we should recognize for exactly what it is.

Who forced you in here? No one. This an opinion thread. Deal with it.
 
Come to think of it, I think I'd prefer to sunset POLITICIANS every ten years.... :D

That's way more important, sunset without ever returning.
 
I imagine that such a thing will create the same debt ceiling nonsense we get, where something necessary is held up to partisan wrangling over something else.
 
If ALL laws sunset in 10 years there would be no stability about anything.
 
I think the idea is sound, if the Constitution is excluded. Big workload though.

Do you have any clue of the workload of redoing ALL laws every 10 years? What is that, a billion pages?
 
Do you have any clue of the workload of redoing ALL laws every 10 years? What is that, a billion pages?

Maybe we would get fewer pages that way.
 
To suggest ALL of anything should be treated the same is ridiculous and creates false equivalencies. All laws are not equal to each other in importance or scope. To throw out a law only because it met with an arbitrarily set expiration date is just bad policy and bad use of time and resources.

The mechanism sunset laws already exists. It's call repeal.

Or the congress could just pass a new law that removes and/or replaces particular parts of existing laws. There is no need to automatically sunset all laws.
 
Well, I've heard this proposal before (10-20 yr span), and it is interesting. It would help keep them busy, yes. It would make it hard for bad laws and such to persist for decades. It would make it harder for highly partisan legislation to remain in place for decades, as the composition of the Congress changed.

One example that comes up often is the 18 yr old guy being on a sex offender registry for having a 15 yr old girlfriend, or the guy who got drunk at a frat party and peed behind a tree, and most people seem to agree that that person is not a threat to society and that that person should not be publicly vilified as such. Yet, no politician has a backbone and thus won't propose a bill to repeal that aspect, because if they do their opponent in the next election will vilify them as being "soft on crime" and that crap still plays well. If we had an automatic sunset provision, I think it's very likely that the sex offender registry law would not be renewed in it's present form. It would be allowed to expire and replaced with a better and more reasonable version. All the spineless politicians would be off the hook and we'd gain back some common sense.
 
One example that comes up often is the 18 yr old guy being on a sex offender registry for having a 15 yr old girlfriend, or the guy who got drunk at a frat party and peed behind a tree, and most people seem to agree that that person is not a threat to society and that that person should not be publicly vilified as such. Yet, no politician has a backbone and thus won't propose a bill to repeal that aspect, because if they do their opponent in the next election will vilify them as being "soft on crime" and that crap still plays well. If we had an automatic sunset provision, I think it's very likely that the sex offender registry law would not be renewed in it's present form. It would be allowed to expire and replaced with a better and more reasonable version. All the spineless politicians would be off the hook and we'd gain back some common sense.

Or there could be a rightwing capture of a legislature and the offense be made a 50 year felony. Things don't always go the way you want when change comes.
 
I was looking at the astounding number of federal laws passed every single year, and it occurred to me: part of the problem is that elected officials feel the need to "do something". With millions of laws on the books, all they can do is make more and more laws, which further and further stifle us as a country.



I propose that all laws not specifically enumerated in The Constitution expire after 10 years.

This would give us

A) something for the politicians to "do" without thinking of new crap to tie us up with
B) it would mean "bad" law doesn't last for decades (NFA Act '37 for example)
C) It would mean law more closely matches the current political makeup. No ramming something through in the dead of the night which is still there years later, even though it was passed through deceit and legislative maneuvering ala ObamaCare, Social Security etc....

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