The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America PDF
Preview The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America
Praise for The Death of Common Sense “Mr. Howard’s argument is fresh, reflecting an impressive combination of wisdom, wry humor, and quiet passion.… When we think about ‘reinventing government,’ it’s a good place to start.”— The New York Times Book Review “The delights of this policy prose poem lie in its perfect details, its civilized tone, its sure sense of where the ill-made legal shoe pinches.”—The Wall Street Journal “One of the most important, thought-provoking books I’ve read in years, and it will grip you from the very first page. Every doctor and teacher frustrated by paperwork, every judge frustrated by mandatory sentencing guidelines, every banker and businessman tied in regulatory knots, every manager terrified to fire someone for doing a poor job—every taxpayer—will find The Death of Common Sense a blood-boiler. What makes it important, though, is not its (amazing) anecdotes, but that it so elegantly synthesizes them … and points to solutions.”—A T NDREW OBIAS “Lucid, economical prose … its lessons are valid and needed therapy for our suffocating democracy.”—Baltimore Sun “Packed with splendid examples of absurd regulatory inflexibility.”—The Seattle Times “A wildly important book which should change the direction of public debate in this country.… Not often does a book appear that is startling and yet so obviously correct.… Philip Howard gives Americans their voice back.”—A H , former publisher of NDREW EISKELL Time, Inc. “Howard cuts through the obfuscatory fog of government and shows a path to sanity.”—The Tampa Tribune “In less than 200 pages, The Death of Common Sense explains why government drives us crazy. That alone makes for satisfying reading.”—Fort Worth Star-Telegram “Timely and well-done.”—Chattanooga News–Free Press “A detailed and remarkably dispassionate account of how pointless regulation has replaced common law and common sense. He is right.”—The Houston Post “Challenges fundamental and usually unexplored assumptions and points out that the Enlightenment’s promise of wisdom through reason is far from being achieved.”—Los Angeles Times “A powerful argument … This is fresh thinking.”—St. Petersburg Times “A good book—will make the reader think … will generate further discussion.”—The Detroit News “Eloquent … a call for personal responsibility and initiative in government … a valuable book.”—People “A three-count indictment of some poisoned fruits of modern liberalism … Among the things that make this book work are its examples.”—Houston Chronicle “An urgent, provocative polemic … It explains better than anything I’ve seen why too many laws and regulations are everyone’s nightmare.”—Lexington Herald-Leader “Trenchant and often witty prose … A devastating indictment of the micromanagerial excesses of regulatory law based upon the creation of artificial ‘rights.’ ”—Commonweal “Both provocative and important. It is not only a cry of outrage but also a plea to force our government to make sense.”—The Flint Journal “A very useful new book.”—The New York Observer Also by Philip K. Howard The Collapse of the Common Good Life Without Lawyers 2011 Random House Trade Paperback Edition Copyright © 1994, 2011 by Philip K. Howard All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Trade Paperbacks, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. RANDOM HOUSE TRADE PAPERBACKS and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc. Originally published in hardcover and in slightly different form in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., in 1994 and subsequently in trade paperback in the United States by Grand Central Publishing in 1996. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Howard, Philip K. The death of common sense : how law is suffocating America/ Philip K. Howard. p. cm. eISBN: 978-0-67964410-1 1. Law—United States. 2. Law reform—United States. 3. Bureaucracy—United States. 4. Common sense. I. Title. KF384.1169 1996 345.73—dc20 [347.3] 95-37410 www.atrandom.com Cover design by Andy Carpenter Cover design: Flamur Tonuzi v3.1 For Olivia, Charlotte, Lily, and Alexander, and for Alexandra CONTENTS Cover Other Books by This Author Title Page Copyright Dedication I THE DEATH OF COMMON SENSE II THE BUCK NEVER STOPS III A NATION OF ENEMIES IV RELEASING OURSELVES AFTERWORD: START OVER AUTHOR’S NOTE ON REFORM ACTIVITIES ACKNOWLEDGMENTS SOURCES About the Author I THE DEATH OF COMMON SENSE
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