What is the purpose of passing a law? I submit that its primary purpose may not be to bring about a change in the behavior of those subject to it, but rather, as a signaling mechanism by which a politician can say to those in his party, or his constituents, "I'm playing on your team".
We see time and time again regulation that is known to be worthless or even destructive even before it's implemented (e.g., CAN-SPAM, airport porn scanners), yet bureaucrats stand behind them, and even trumpet their "success", just the same.
Recent threads here have discussed whether voting behavior is really based on weighing issues, as opposed to signaling one's identity as a member of the "club" (party, special interest, etc.). If this is true, then it's only logical that the politician's job is to make it know that he is the representative of that "club", and actual goodness of his work isn't particularly relevant.
> I submit that its primary purpose may not be to bring about a change in the behavior of those subject to it, but rather, as a signaling mechanism by which a politician can say to those in his party, or his constituents, "I'm playing on your team".
Another important purpose is encouraging support.
For example, one of the best ways to get bankers to contribute to your campaign is to propose banking regulations.
It would follow that the ultimate law would be one that sent a strong signal to your base and had very few people who could appear on TV and say they were directly harmed by it.
For some reason the tax code comes immediately to mind.
We see time and time again regulation that is known to be worthless or even destructive even before it's implemented (e.g., CAN-SPAM, airport porn scanners), yet bureaucrats stand behind them, and even trumpet their "success", just the same.
Recent threads here have discussed whether voting behavior is really based on weighing issues, as opposed to signaling one's identity as a member of the "club" (party, special interest, etc.). If this is true, then it's only logical that the politician's job is to make it know that he is the representative of that "club", and actual goodness of his work isn't particularly relevant.