Analog to Godel's Theorem in Politics?

Godel's Theorem says that within any axiomatic (logical) system of inference and proof, it is possible to make a statement within that system which is valid, true, and unprovable, unless you introduce some new postulates (rules). This put a quick end to the grand attempts to derive all of mathematics from a few postulates.

Years of watching legislatures tinker with laws, and years of laying down the law myself as we try to raise children, have led me to suspect that Godel's theorem has a political/legal analog.

When we make laws we use various principles, and observations about what is just and unjust, to guide the creation of laws designed to punish some actions and reward other actions. No matter how well crafted the laws may be (and I try hard, I assure you), there always seems to be some loophole. There always is some behavior that ought to be rewarded and isn't, or ought to be punished and can't be. The analogy with axiomatic systems is not exact, so I can't prove this rigorously, but it is empirically true that "There is always a loophole." (Call it a special case of the Law of Unintended Side Effects). That sounds like a joke, but check it for yourself--it is true.

So, what do we do? Here at home we when faced with a problem we can try

• "We are the king and queen and the ultimate authority, and we're going to punish this even if it didn't break the rules, because it violates such and such a principle."
• "Oops, oh well. Just don't do that next time."
• "Drat. We have to make a new rule about that."

Because we're the parents, and because we love our children, we can make any of these work reasonably well; but we're still fiddling with the rules after 21 years (our youngest is almost 10).

The political world is rather different. What do you do when someone comes up with a creative way of bookkeeping that bends the rules, or tries out a new mask for extortion?

• We can select a person or group to review cases with the authority to override the laws if there is manifest injustice. You may as well call this person a king. We know what happens with kings--the temptation to abuse power for their own benefit generally gets the better of them. [OK, not always, but almost always]
• We can shrug our shoulders, say that nothing is perfect, and hope that social pressure or approval serves to fix the problem. The culture isn't always perfect either, of course (I give you Pakistani attitudes toward rape as an example); and history is full of plausible villains who managed to finesse social pressure and win support for their villainy.
• We can add a new observation to the system ("yyy" is bad) and pass some new laws to take care of the problem. Of course there'll be a new loophole in the new and improved system. In addition, steering among the thicket of laws becomes harder; and eventually the laws begin to contradict each other (see the US Federal Tax Code for examples {hat tip to an H&R Block man I carpooled with}). Unless there are periodic efforts to eliminate laws the system becomes unusably complex--buggy.
• Run things according to God's laws, which are by definition perfect. Unfortunately the interpreters turn out to be imperfect (and not infrequently stupid) priests, imams, or what have you.
• Trust to education and reshaping the culture to make people look for the just and the good even when these are not strictly prescribed by law. The fact that this hasn't worked anywhere for the past 3000 years doesn't seem to dissuade the partisans of this method who seem certain that their little change in strategy will make the teaching take. Rule of thumb--it is easy to make people worse, but very hard to make people better

There don't seem to be any silver bullets for this problem, and indeed if "Godel's Political Analog" is true, we shouldn't expect one.

One thing does seem to work, or at least help. If the participants have both humility and a hunger to do the right thing, the results can be acceptably just and free. These virtues aren't legislatable, or even reliably teachable. If these virtues infuse the culture (not the same as saying that everyone has them), the society may not be perfect, but it will be a lot nicer to live in provided you come from the right side of the tracks. You needn't have a law against cannibalism if the act is unthinkable. You don't need laws against littering if everyone thinks the public streets are their own and picks up any trash they see (yes, I lived in Switzerland for a few months).

I think I can safely assert that these sorts of virtues do not arise naturally out of some kind of social system, but are inputs to it. I may revisit that assertion to demonstrate it... And I can't say that any of the examples either have been permanent or have extended their benefits to strangers well.