Too Many Laws

"Once a law is in place in the US, it's almost impossible to dislodge. Once enacted, most laws are ignored for generations, allowed to take on a life of their own without meaningful review. Decade after decade, they pile up like sediment in a harbor, bogging the country down - in dense regulation, unaffordable health care, and higher taxes and public debt. Congress could follow a simple proposal: Every law should automatically expire after 10 or 15 years. Such a universal sunset provision would force Congress and the president to justify the status quo and give political reformers an opening to reexamine trade-offs and public priorities....Accumulated law has become a defining problem of modern democracy. To an amazing degree, our government's choices are dictated by political leaders who are long dead."

One Nation, Under Too Many Laws
by Philip Howard
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/10/AR2010121007132.html