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… is from page 97 of Robert Cooter’s 2000 book, The Strategic Constitution [2]:
Following the principle, “The best guide to a maze is its architect,” legislators have an incentive to create a bureaucratic maze so that voters reject challengers and rely on incumbents as guides. Thus, incumbent politicians sometimes seek an electoral advantage by increasing the complexity of administration faced by citizens and retaining control over it.
For politicians, the red tape that ensnarls citizens is a feature, not a bug, of government.