The following words represent the generally acknowledged mindset of a bureaucrat: “Rules are rules, fella. I don’t make ‘em. I just enforce ‘em.”
Let’s say that you’re a policymaker interested in reducing the size of government. Strategically, is it easier to cut government regulation or roll back the welfare state (thereby reducing government spending)?
That’s because nobody has been able to count the total number of federal laws on the books. A post at the Library of Congress’s blog put it this way: At the reference desk, we are frequently asked to estimate the number of federal laws in force. However, trying to tally this number is nearly impossible. […]