Click here to edit this law.

May 5, 2006 11:56 AM

Wikocracy.Don't like the law? Write it yourself.
posted by monju_bosatsu (29 comments total)

This will probably not work at all, but I love the idea!
posted by mrnutty at 12:05 PM on May 5, 2006

Heaven help anybody who tries living by the results.
posted by destro at 12:06 PM on May 5, 2006

This is what makes the internet cool yet retarded.
posted by BackwardsHatClub at 12:08 PM on May 5, 2006

That is cool but will probably descend into wiki-chaos.

See the 50th Amendent to the Constitution in which "The power to command the military is removed from the President. The power to declare war is removed from the Congress. The military as it is now known is disbanded. All military equipment is to be sold to allied nations. Monies earned from these sales will be forwarded towards releasing the United States from debt and making reparations payments to the Sovereign Nation of Iraq."
posted by poppo at 12:09 PM on May 5, 2006

haha what
posted by rxrfrx at 12:10 PM on May 5, 2006

Cool! It's like the International Drinking Rules, except with less booze, more typing, and much more preaching!
posted by robocop is bleeding at 12:15 PM on May 5, 2006

This could take "ignorance of the law is no excuse" to a whole new level.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go make walking on the sidewalk illegal in Madison, CT.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 12:15 PM on May 5, 2006

People who enjoy sausages and respect the law should never watch either being made.
-Otto Von Bismarck (as near as I can tell)

Most legislators are lawyers, and they still come up with these abortions. Current U.S. education is not adequate to produce a general public that is capable of understanding the laws that govern it, let alone writing laws that achieve a particular purpose. (Obviously, laws that funnel money to well-connected parties are drafted much more carefully, and generally work relatively well.)
posted by spacewrench at 12:17 PM on May 5, 2006

Nothing on this platform is legally binding.

Thank God they cleared that up.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 12:17 PM on May 5, 2006

Gasp! Madison, CT ! How will people get from the Art Cinemas to R.J. Julia's Bookstore?
posted by fugitivefromchaingang at 12:20 PM on May 5, 2006

This is a complete waste of time.

But, oh well, so is everything else on the internet.
posted by blacklite at 12:22 PM on May 5, 2006

Not exactly a wiki, but the Model Penal Code has been a successful, collaborative effort at putting together statutory recommendations for states to enact as-is or consult in making their own statutes.
posted by Brian James at 12:33 PM on May 5, 2006

I have started work on the 51st Amendment. Enjoy! Or insult me as you see fit. Either way, it's Friday!
posted by poppo at 12:33 PM on May 5, 2006

Satan
n. One of the Creator’s lamentable mistakes, repented in sashcloth and axes. Being instated as an archangel, Satan made himself multifariously objectionable and was finally expelled from Heaven. Halfway in his descent he paused, bent his head in thought a moment and at last went back. “There is one favor that I should like to ask,” said he. “Name it.” “Man, I understand, is about to be created. He will need laws.” “What, wretch! you his appointed adversary, charged from the dawn of eternity with hatred of his soul — you ask for the right to make his laws?” “Pardon; what I have to ask is that he be permitted to make them himself.” It was so ordered.

from Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce
posted by mds35 at 12:40 PM on May 5, 2006

Also see: nomic.
posted by bwerdmuller at 12:55 PM on May 5, 2006

I really like the Fortieth.
posted by MasonDixon at 12:59 PM on May 5, 2006

I just ammended the Constitution so people can marry animals (excluding fish).
posted by dov3 at 1:22 PM on May 5, 2006

That was you? I turfed that bit before reading the thread. Lasted 12 minutes; not bad.
posted by solid-one-love at 1:35 PM on May 5, 2006

This is great. Government of the technorati, by the technorati, for the technorati ... the way the forefathers intended. It's about time Chimpy learned wiki markup.
posted by If I Had An Anus at 1:36 PM on May 5, 2006

I really like the Fortieth.

Though some of its provisions are attractive, allowing the people to nullify the national debt by plebiscite every 18th year is a bad idea.
posted by grobstein at 1:40 PM on May 5, 2006

Also see: nomic.

up for a game? I've been wanting to try it for a while now.
posted by carsonb at 1:43 PM on May 5, 2006

I'm so writing the section on the Medical Liability Act. Time to screw over those 202 assholes.

I'd also like to write the law on the Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine... something that I will make a post about one of these days....
posted by dios at 2:09 PM on May 5, 2006

How will people get from the Art Cinemas to R.J. Julia's Bookstore?

I'm going to follow up with a "zip-line" mandate between all points.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 2:49 PM on May 5, 2006

Most legislators are lawyers, and they still come up with these abortions.

I've always thought it was interesting that we overwhelming elect lawyers. I don't know if that means it takes a law degree in order to succesfully navigate politics, or that there's something in common between the draw to public office and the draw to the legal profession.... or if we, the people, simply prefer to have our laws made, executed, and debated by lawyers.

But whatever the case, it's obvious that our process doesn't elect many people from the trades, the sciences, technology, or the arts.

And I wonder if this has something to do with the sense that public institutions are clumsy and ineffectual. Some very smart people are lawyers, and some of those are even deft and perceptive outside their discipline, with the soul of a philosopher. But I wonder how many have ever been practitioners of the useful arts and sciences upon whose acts much of the work of society gets done daily, and I wonder what missing that kind of experience means.
posted by weston at 7:14 PM on May 5, 2006

This makes me happier than anything else I've seen online all week.
posted by salvia at 7:45 PM on May 5, 2006

I just added text that requires the retiring President to forfeit his or her life if they do not win the vote of confidence upon leaving office.
posted by RichAromas at 7:58 PM on May 5, 2006

Haha:
The FDA couldn't set a good standard regarding the mixture of soda and Pop Rocks that killed Mikey the Life Cerial kid, and so henceforth, shall not have any authority over any recreational substances whatsoever.
posted by agropyron at 12:15 AM on May 6, 2006

This reminds me of a science-fiction short story I read years ago. Details follow, but may be inaccurate due to the limitations of memory.

Representatives from Earth land on a planet and seek to make contact with the government. They are told that there is no government as such. Any inhabitant (including the visitors themselves) is entitled to decree whatever law they like, which will be immediately entered into the central computer database. The visitors from Earth immediately start passing laws passed on their own prejudices. Then they find out the catch. Any law may be immediately nullifed by other inhabitants declaring it silly. Any person who has more than three of the laws they passed nullifed in this way will be penalized by having body parts removed. The visitors from Earth quickly leave the planet, to the derisive laughter of the natives.

Anyone else remember that story or who it was by?
posted by tdismukes at 9:37 AM on May 6, 2006

"Primary Education of the Camiroi" or "Polity and Custom of the Camiroi" by R. A. Lafferty.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 1:53 PM on May 8, 2006