Is there a way to stop the red tape?

[cityimrov]

Is there any way to reduce the red tape in government? 

I have this theory about how red tape gets longer.  Basically, people start complaining about something insignificant.  After a ton of complaining, the lawmakers then add a law to address the complaint.  Then the people find something else insignificant to complain about and then the lawmakers add another law to fix that complaint.  After this happens a few thousand times, you then end up with a mess of laws that is much bigger then the insignificant complaint that was there in the first place!!  The funny thing is that people then complain about the laws of the laws of the laws which causes the complaint, this causes the lawmaker to add another law to address those laws which then makes things even more insane.

If my theory is right, I can't think of a way to stop it.  Any ideas here on how to reduce the government bureaucracy? 

[Sigma]

   Get rid of the lawyers!

[Dog Walker]

Want a laugh?  Look at the bottom of the forms you get from the Federal Gov't.  At the bottom of each of them is usually the statement, "This form complies with the "Reduction of Paperwork Act of 19##".  They probably had to fill out several other forms to prove their compliance for that form.

[ChriswUfGator]

  Get rid of the lawyers!

Actually Sigma, I think that's part of the problem.

Only around 30% of Congress are lawyers. Not that long ago, it used to be damned near 100%. Same goes for our Florida legislature. Most attorneys would have a better understanding of the impact of passing a new law over some insignificant issue, and I think the lower the ratio gets the worse this problem will get.

And without lawyers, all you'll have left is the Police who can then do whatever they want. Sounds fun, huh?

[Deuce]

Fascism. There's no red tape when a dictator tells you what's allowed and what's not.

[JeffreyS]

The Fair Tax would reduce many hoops for people. It would also free up the time our Ledgislators spend changing the tax code every year. They could use that time to deal with more of the red tape.

[BridgeTroll]

For your enjoyment...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_tape

[edit] Origins
The origins of the term are somewhat obscure, but it is first noted in historical records in the 16th century, when Henry VIII besieged Pope Clement VII with around eighty or so petitions for the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. A photo of the petitions from Cardinal Wolsey and others, now stored in the Vatican archives, can be seen on page 106 of "Saints and Sinners, a History of The Popes", by Eamon Duffy (published by Yale University Press in 1997). The pile of documents can be viewed in all their glory, rolled and stacked in original condition, each one sealed and bound with the obligatory red tape, as was the custom.

The tradition continued through to the 17th and 18th century. Although Charles Dickens is believed to have used the phrase before Thomas Carlyle[1], the English practice of binding documents and official papers with red tape was popularized in the writings of Carlyle protesting against official inertia with expressions like "Little other than a red tape Talking-machine, and unhappy Bag of Parliamentary Eloquence". To this day, most barristers' briefs are tied in a pink-coloured ribbon known as "pink tape" or "legal tape". Government briefs are usually bound with white tape, introduced as an economy measure[citation needed] to save the expense of dyeing the tape red.

Traditionally, official Vatican documents were also bound in red cloth tape.

All American Civil War veterans' records were bound in red tape, and the difficulty in accessing them led to the current use of the term, but there is evidence (as detailed above) that the term was in use in its modern sense sometime before this.

Although grief over red tape is often seen as a right-wing conviction,[citation needed] Karl Marx wrote about the phenomenon of changing from one person in control of a complete task, to having multiple people each with specialties in specific tasks. He saw this occurring as society shifts from a Seigneurial system to a capitalist system. Although Marx drew different conclusions about this trend, it is often this abstraction among workers that is the source of red tape. This interpretation would explain why it is often perceived that the presence of red tape is increasing.[citation needed]

[Overstreet]

No. Govenment invented red tape.  Corporate america picked it up and improved it's complexity. Then Govenment felt cheated and  made it more complicated and contradictory.

The only place that holds it to the minimum is small business.

[mtraininjax]

Want to get rid of red tape in City Government.....clean house and start over. Make every person re-apply for their job. Some of the managers and Chiefs are dumber than a rock and are only there because of appointment. They are so worthless, they could only work in the City!

[ChriswUfGator]

Want to get rid of red tape in City Government.....clean house and start over. Make every person re-apply for their job. Some of the managers and Chiefs are dumber than a rock and are only there because of appointment. They are so worthless, they could only work in the City!

You know mtrain, you I finally agree on something. Completely.

And I think it needs to start with the very top guy and work its way down from there. I just hope everyone on this board gets out and voices their collective displeasure on election day.