the.com/lawmaking
The art of turning a good idea into 400 pages nobody reads before voting yes.
means The process of creating, debating, and passing laws through a legislature.
from A straightforward compound of 'law' — from Old English 'lagu,' itself borrowed from Old Norse 'lög,' meaning something laid down or fixed — and 'making,' from Old English 'macian.' The word simply describes what it says: the laying-down of rules made official through deliberate action, with 'lagu' carrying that ancient sense of something settled and placed into order.
- true origin
- Most bills die quietly in committee, never reaching a vote
- length inflation
- Modern bills often exceed 1000 pages via amendments
- speed myth
- Average bill takes over a year to become law
- hidden power
- Staffers often write more policy detail than legislators