Via Ben Evans
What if all laws had to have expiration dates, and the duration that a law could be passed for was tied to how much it passed by. So a law passed by a slim majority could only last for say 3-5 years before needing to be renewed. A law that passed by a supermajority could last up to say 8-10 years, and higher tiers could be placed. A reasonable maximum I think would be maybe 20-25 years. This largely satisfies the Jeffersonian ideal of the laws being owned by the current generation.
Thoughts??
Congress is pretty awesome at not doing it's mandated job. They'd just batch them in an omnibus renew the expired laws bill, probably full of underhanded amendments, and good to go for another term.
Very interesting concept! Off the bat I can see some positive and negative effects, mostly in regards the negatives concerning the Constitution. I think this would be a very useful tool at the State level where people are closer to the law. Definitely worth exploring as an idea though. Unfortunately it would be very hard to convince people to really look at on all levels.