Common Sense

The Death Of Common Sense; How Law Is Suffocating America by Philip K. Howard is a very short read (185 pages) about how laws are, well suffocating America. Howard talks about how laws were initially set up to protect us and do good, yet law makers are starting to get extreme. With no lee-way in our continuously growing rules there is much fault in most of them. He gives examples of when rules are just plain out of date, how small businesses are going under because they are getting fined for rules that apply to big companies, and of laws that group people together that shouldn't be.

One of the first examples he gives in the book is of NY nuns wanting to build a shelter for the homeless. The two fire-gutted buildings they had found were offered at one dollar each. The Missionaries of Charity set aside $500,000 for the reconstruction. The building would help sixty-four homeless men in a communal setting that included 4 floors. NY's building code requires an elevator in every new or renovated multiple-story building. The Missionaries of Charity explained that because of their beliefs they would never use the elevator which cost upward of $100,000. The nuns (after 2 years) were told the laws could not be changed.

Howard gives many examples like this in his book of how things are sometimes just a little too strict. Such as judges that have to rule by a grid sentencing that could give a murderer and a person with a first offense drug charge the same amount of time in prison. One of the simplest examples he gives is of how forest rangers used to have 1 slip of paper with the rules written on it that they could slip in and out of their shirt pocket. This paired with some common sense did the trick. Now, they have pages upon pages of rules and regulations to follow.