In his latest, “Everyday Freedom,” Howard cites the buildup since the 1960s of laws and rules that were intended to ensure procedural fairness, but in practice have chipped away at officials’ authority to do their jobs.
Modern law, he says, has created “an elaborate precautionary system aimed at precluding human error.” Public officials have learned it’s safer to hide behind highly prescriptive laws and regulations than to risk using their judgment, moral intuition and common sense to solve public problems.
No government can codify the “correct” answers to life’s myriad problems and puzzles. Citizens have conflicting interests and demands. Public authorities are hired to reconcile those interests and make reasonable trade-offs that weigh individual claims against the common good.
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