Laws fail all the time. Everyone in Washington knows that most attempts at reform will fall short. Mapping the complexity of the world onto a bill is a tall order at any point, let alone on the first attempt. Lawmakers learn from their mistakes, refine their approach, and (hopefully) eventually get it right. Democracy muddles through.
But there’s a particular species of failure that's far more troubling. Sometimes laws don't fizzle, they transform into something their authors never intended, or even sought to avoid. The history of the Davis-Bacon Act illustrates this process.
In 1931, Congress faced a problem. Federal contractors were importing cheap labor from other states, undercutting local workers on government projects. The solution seemed simple: require contractors to pay "prevailing wages" based on local standards. To implement the solution, President Hoover signed the Davis-Bacon Act, only two pages long when it was passed.
