Quotes from Philip K. Howard

Plato argued that good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will always find a way around law. By pretending that procedure will get rid of corruption, we have succeeded only in humiliating honest people and provided a cover of darkness and complexity for the bad people. There is a scandal here, but it's not the result of venal bureaucrats. (1994) p. 99

Uniformity in the common law, consisting of broad principles like the "reasonable person" standard, generally permits adjustment for the circumstances. This type of uniform principle is almost synonymous with fairness. Uniform application of a detailed rule, on the other hand, will almost always favor one group over another. p. 34

Human nature turns out to be more complicated than the idea that people will get along if only the rules are clear enough. Uncertainty, the ultimate evil that modern law seeks to eradicate, generally fosters cooperation, not the opposite.

We must abandon our belief that human choice denigrates the Rule of Law.

Overthrow the bureaucracy, and return to a system based on human responsibility.

The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas," John Maynard Keynes famously observed, "but in escaping from the old ones.

Automatic law corrodes our freedom

In 2010, 70 percent of federal tax revenue was consumed by three entitlement programs (Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security)

Mindless rules, not accountable officials, are the enemy of freedom.

Coercion by government, the main fear of our founding fathers, is now its most common attribute.