Zone Law Rambling

One of the advantages to democracy no one really talks about, is that it is inefficient. You think that is a strange thing to praise - but look at the alternative - a despot that can pass any law they want at any time and make an entire class of people "unpersons"between Tuesday and Wednesday. In a congressional system, not only would many people have to sign off, but they'd be adding riders and ajoinders, and pork programs, and if it got passed at all, it would be sure to include funds earmarked for the dairy industry, May fourth would be light-sabre day, and the language would be far more politically correct...

Well, the upshot of all this is that most laws in the zone are based on the laws current before the event, and most of those laws were similar to what they were in the early twenty-first century. Its practically stupid how closely we follow those times, even as we ignore all property rights and strip resources from abandoned buildings.

I was a Representative helping debate one of the state trials on new drunk driving laws. Seems simple enough - if machines are now capable of adopting the autodrive system, these is no excuse for operating a vehicle while inebriated and penalties for DUI should be all the harsher - right? But some would argue that is a tax on people who can't afford cars with the new system, or that the laws are harsh enough and enforcement is better spent elsewhere, or that taking away a license doesn't matter since the machine drives itself without checking an ID anyway (Don't even get me started on the argument over making the driver's license a smart card and scan-able.)

Not that I'm accusing anyone of drunk driving in the zone. Things like reanimates do tend to encourage alertness. But a lot of places simply say the law is like it was before and have avoided putting to much thought into it. Some of the city states are trying to create their own society, and that is proving to be a source of division. The slowness of democracy is also why a lot of the smaller outposts, towns, or mini-city-states you run into are going to be dictatorships or juntas rather than Representative. Time spent debating rather than time spent gathering supplies and shooting reanimates ins not time well spent in the eyes of many.

That is probably not a healthy attitude, and I don't say that just because I'd be out of a job. Life is beautiful, the inside of a monster's stomach is not, and all that jazz. But in the end, its not just living, but a life that is worth living, and for that you need freedom and freedom is usually secured with measured governance, and that in turn means debate and rule by republic. A lot of wandering do-gooders are going to find jobs restoring rightful rule, and just as many will find work putting down rebellions that are going on at an inconvenient time. Hopefully they can tell which is which.