Some laws do.
In the US, the assault weapons ban in the 1994 crime bill had an expiration. It didn't get renewed when that came up in 2004.
Trump's tax cuts have an expiration in 2025.
It's just more work. Politicians already have plenty of new things to work on, learn about, and debate. (or fight and call each other names over)
Once something is settled, like "murder bad", "speed limit 70 mph" - they don't want to have to revisit that.
As we can see in the US, every time a law is debated it becomes a position for negotiation and compromise. Of course the US has to pay our bills. Of course we all know that. But, some people are holding out saying, "I won't vote for that unless you give me some things I want."
If we put even the most basic laws up to get voted on every few years, then even less would get accomplished. They'd fight over all the stuff that was already decided, and never get any new stuff done.
I would personally prefer that civil rights laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act didn't automatically expire because there is no way in hell we're getting anything like that passed today.
I think you severly underestimate how many laws there are. For Sweden on average 200 new laws are made every year. Parliament voting on keeping old laws or not, would take enough a lot of their time (and be rather inefficient, since they can already make motions to revoke laws if they want to.
Having the public vote for thousands of laws each year, seems logistically hopeless.
that wouldn't that serve laws like killing or rape
Some laws do. In the US, the assault weapons ban in the 1994 crime bill had an expiration. It didn't get renewed when that came up in 2004. Trump's tax cuts have an expiration in 2025. It's just more work. Politicians already have plenty of new things to work on, learn about, and debate. (or fight and call each other names over) Once something is settled, like "murder bad", "speed limit 70 mph" - they don't want to have to revisit that. As we can see in the US, every time a law is debated it becomes a position for negotiation and compromise. Of course the US has to pay our bills. Of course we all know that. But, some people are holding out saying, "I won't vote for that unless you give me some things I want." If we put even the most basic laws up to get voted on every few years, then even less would get accomplished. They'd fight over all the stuff that was already decided, and never get any new stuff done.
I would personally prefer that civil rights laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act didn't automatically expire because there is no way in hell we're getting anything like that passed today.
I think you severly underestimate how many laws there are. For Sweden on average 200 new laws are made every year. Parliament voting on keeping old laws or not, would take enough a lot of their time (and be rather inefficient, since they can already make motions to revoke laws if they want to. Having the public vote for thousands of laws each year, seems logistically hopeless.