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The Nation's Pulse

Laws and More Laws

These never fail to display annoying, intended consequences

Congress regularly passes Laws of Unintended Consequences, then scrambles around to try to fix them. Out in the real world, human nature creates its own laws, most of them immutable. For example:

The Law of Telephone Book White Pages
The name you are looking for will not be in the telephone book. Or, if it is, no address will be listed.

The Law of Scandal-Tainted Politicians
They will always say they are “stepping down” to spend more time with their families.

The Obama Law of Presidential Responsibility
Anything that has gone wrong, is going wrong or will go wrong was, is or will be the fault of George W. Bush.

The Law of Crabgrass
The speed of growth of crabgrass, oxalis, and other infestations in your lawn will increase in direct proportion to your efforts to eliminate them. 

The Law of Yellow Pages
The category of the business you are looking for will not be found in the Yellow Pages under any logical designation.

The Law of Lines
Where there are multiple lines for anything (post office, toll booths, banks) you will always be in the slowest one.

The Law of Martinis
The martini you ordered will come either on the rocks or made with vodka, unless you specified “gin” and “straight up.”  This is a result of too many establishments not looking up the recipe for martinis.

The EPA Law of Writing Regulations
If something works, stop it dead in its tracks.

The Law of Customer Service
When you telephone Customer Service the automatic reply will be, “Your call is very important to us. All of our representatives are assisting other customers. Your call will be answered in the order it was received.”  Translation: She’s on coffee break. 

The Law of Museums
The museum that you visit in the distant city will be closed the day you are there. (If you think all museums close on Mondays, you haven’t been to enough museums.)

The Law of Sinking Political Appointees
When a Presidential appointee has committed an egregious error or has been designated as the scapegoat for one, the Presidential spokesman will say, “The President has complete confidence in ___________.”  He or she will be gone within days.

The Law of Automobile Noises
When the service department or repair shop examines the squeak or rattle in your automobile that has been annoying you for days, even weeks, they will report that they test drove the car and found no evidence of any squeak or rattle. 

The Law of Writing Instructions for Government Forms
If it can be stated in a few words, use many. 

The Law Governing Instructions for Setting Up Electronic Gadgets
They must be written as if they were bad translations from Chinese, Korean or Japanese and/or they must be missing one step.

The Law of Light Bulbs
Any replacement light bulb you buy, regardless of how all-American its brand name, will have been made in China. 

And, finally, Murphy’s Law
If anything can go wrong, it will.

About the Author

Peter Hannaford was closely associated for a number of years with the late President Reagan, beginning in the California Governor’s office. His latest book is Presidential Retreats.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (6) |

Aristocat| 12.17.12 @ 7:05AM

If anything can go wrong, it will...
Like the last election.

Appleby| 12.17.12 @ 7:24AM

The Law of Trustworthiness: Anyone who says "trust me" has his eyes on your wallet.

The Law of Previous Filing Systems: The last person who had your job has not filed anything, ever. If she has filed anything, she has used a system that defies logic and reason, and the only way you will find anything is accidentally, when you are looking for something else.

The Law of Hope and Change: Hope is what you have going into the casino. Change is what you have coming out of the casino.

Appleby| 12.17.12 @ 7:25AM

Oh, and The Law of Poor Aim: When someone commits a heinous crime, the punishment will fall upon everyone except the criminal.

BShep| 12.17.12 @ 10:04AM

Murphy was an optimist!

Petronius| 12.17.12 @ 10:38AM

Every law enacted to solve a problem creates a new problem which must be solved by enacting another law.....and another, and another, and .....

Al Adab| 12.17.12 @ 12:44PM

Which is why Petronius, the talmud is so voluminous. Every creation of positive law to cover any contingency creates loopholes requiring more positive law.

Fewer is better.

As an aside, my favorite is : when you finally find a product you like, they will stop making it.

More Articles by Peter Hannaford

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