Robert Heinlein may have been batshit mental and somewhere to the right of Oswald Moseley, but he had at least one good idea:
"New laws can only be added if at least two others are removed first."
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Wed 28 Sep 2011, 11:48, 10 replies)

I thought the people who claimed that back in the 1950s
were the ones who didn't get that much of Starship Troopers was satire rather than a right-wing wankfest.
( Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Wed 28 Sep 2011, 12:23, closed)

It wasn't a satire
But Heinlein would often say that he didn't necessarily believe in the concepts he wrote about.

Though it certainly does appear that he had something of a rugged individualist streak running through him.
(Richy_T hundreds if not thousands of dollars, Wed 28 Sep 2011, 20:51, closed)

butbutbut...
We make new laws to deal with new stuff that doesn't have laws around it. The old laws deal with older stuff. Are you suggesting that if I wanted a law enshrining fair use of online material, I'd have to chuck out workplace safety and fraud being a crime? Because that, good fellow, is bollocks.
(nordelius, Wed 28 Sep 2011, 13:53, closed)

The idea is a kind of evolutionary progress
So we end up with a small number of really well composed, essential laws, rather than a huge morass of complex tinkering laws.

Another benefit is that less and less laws means less and less lawyers needed to interpret them!
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Wed 28 Sep 2011, 14:41, closed)

So rather than a clear law dealing with, say, not letting workplaces use dangerous chemicals without appropriate safeguards, you'd want to mash it up with loads of other laws to make one big complicated one that only lawyers have a hope of understanding.

To see an example of the latter, have a look at the actual wording of the USA PATRIOT Act.
(nordelius, Thu 29 Sep 2011, 10:34, closed)

I think his best one was
Whenever the country considers attacking another country, it should be put to the public vote.

A vote of yes to attacking also means you've just enlisted.
( Afinkawan Yes I can hear you Clem Fandango, Wed 28 Sep 2011, 17:02, closed)

I like it -- as long as the same applied to the politicians
Oh, and while they're waiting in line for their uniform and rifle, they can explain how it's possible to suddenly find multiple billions for a war when the hospitals and schools have to have a car boot sale to get money for chairs and light-bulbs.
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Thu 29 Sep 2011, 9:32, closed)

^this, Afinkawan.
(Odinsdottir wants to tell you about her cats, Thu 29 Sep 2011, 10:04, closed)

Bzzzt
Mosley was a lefty.
(Richy_T hundreds if not thousands of dollars, Wed 28 Sep 2011, 20:48, closed)

Heinlein...
Is my favourite. He may not be the best, but I love him. I find none of his works sexist, and FFS, Starship Troopers was a thought experiment.

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
(Odinsdottir wants to tell you about her cats, Thu 29 Sep 2011, 10:03, closed)