"The United States is a nation of laws, badly written and randomly enforced," noted the late musician and satirist Frank Zappa. I often think of that snarky comment as I write about the sausage-making process in city councils, state legislatures, and the federal government. Did I mention that California's state government has 518 agencies, boards, and commissions?

Our system of checks, balances, more checks, additional balances, impact reports, legal challenges, voter initiatives, regulatory rulemakings, and administrative hearings frustrates people who want to "get something done." Americans spent $14 billion on the 2020 election cycle to influence political outcomes—and that was just for the presidential and congressional races.

I once ran a modest state bill to reduce the insanely onerous licensing regulations for people who shampoo hair at salons. After months of hearings and debate, the Assembly defeated it for going too far. That explains the public's desire to cut through the red tape and, as Arnold Schwarzenegger once promised, "blow up the boxes" of government.