Codes could use some limitations

link Rube Render

Local columnist

Depending on where you go to look it up, the United States Code contains more than 50,000 pages.

Considering that the Affordable Care Act and the Dodd Frank Financial Act each contain more than 1,000 pages, the above number seems low.

To get some idea of the size involved, the U.S. Code occupies 73 inches of shelf space, and contains 50 volumes.

The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations (sometimes called administrative law) and deals with how the U.S. Code is enforced.

The CFR occupies more than four times the shelf space of the U.S. Code taking up 304.5 inches.

For further perspective, consider that in 1925 the U.S. Code consisted of one volume.

In 2009, a Boston based civil-liberties lawyer named Harvey Silverglate wrote a book called “Three Felonies a Day.”

The title refers to the number of crimes he estimates the average American commits without knowing it on a daily basis.

Based on the statistical data listed above, you can see how that would be entirely possible.

As an example of this, I never realized it was against the law to lie to the FBI until Martha Stewart was convicted on this charge and sent to jail. I don’t think Martha did either.

Since that time others have been convicted on the same charge; most notable Scooter Libby, who was chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney.

What we need is some method of limiting government entities to an exact number of laws. For example, you started with the lowest level of government, i.e. village, then town, then city, then county and so on up to the federal government. A village would be allowed 50 laws, a town 75, and a city 100 and so on up the line. To preclude the Nancy Pelosi’s (“We have to pass it to see what’s in it.”) and the John Conyers’ (“No I haven’t read it; nobody’s read it; and if they did, they’d have to be a lawyer to understand it.”) the number of pages per law would have to be limited also.

Under this structure, Clovis would have a limit of 100 laws and the city commission could pass as many laws as it wanted until it hit the limit. At that point, prior to passing another law, it would have to repeal a law that was on the books.

This is scary. I’m starting to sound like Kent McManigal.

Rube Render is the Curry County Republican chairman. Contact him at:

[email protected]