Juvenal Delinquents

There are more regulatory reform ideas out there than you can shake a stick at. Some, of course, are better than others. Over at the American Spectator, I have a bit of fun with the idea of keeping regulators in check by having a separate body of regulators oversee them.

A new book, which I do recommend, puts that idea forward. The authors call the oversight body the Sentinel. I think regulatory problems are a bit deeper than that, and need to be dealt with at the level of incentives. The Sentinel idea is also prone to an infinite regress, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing:

Neither party seems to realize that Sentinels offer the path to full employment. Here’s my proposal. Remember that infinite regress argument from a few paragraphs back? Sentinels will need their own Sentinels to keep them in line. But those Sentinels will need their own Sentinels. The Sentinels’ Sentinels will need Sentinels, too. And on to infinity — an infinity of jobs! Every last man, woman, and child who wants a job can get one as a Sentinel.

And yes, that is a joke. Read the whole thing here.