Even thought it’s from Cracked, this is a good look at the counterproductivity of well-intentioned laws. With regard to the underground sex offenders, Obama favored a law on gun stores that would have made it similarly impossible to find a location for them. I don’t think that consequence was unintended, though.
3 thoughts on “Unintended Consequences”
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The Endangered Species Act has indeed backfired. I’ve heard of a case where someone had picked up an environment waiver (for a federal government project no less) and wiped out some toad habitat (by burning and dragging the terrain suspected of harboring them). Then when the waiver expired, they had removed a significant obstacle to completion of the project.
I remember reading about the Wowsers in Australia — people “whose sense of morality drives them to deprive others of their sinful pleasures, especially liquor.”
They couldn’t get full prohibition of alcohol passed, so they did the next best thing … they restricted it, and in the stupidest way imaginable: they forced the bars to close at 8:00 p.m. As a result, men would get off work at 5:00, immediately head for the pub, and proceed to get ‘faced as rapidly as possible. Then at 8:00 they’d be turned out onto the streets. Hilarity ensued.
When the stupidity of this law was pointed out to the Wowsers, their defense was, “Imagine how much worse it would be if they were allowed to keep drinking until midnight!”
Whoops — I see my memory was in error. According to the Wikipedia article, the Wowsers forced the pubs to close at 6:00 p.m.. Even stupider.