[fnordpiglet]

If you mean banana republic to mean literally every government ever throughout all of history then you’re right. Regulations are imperfect, laws are interpreted, and we don’t live in technopurist nirvana where everything is a literally interpreted smart contract.

What I’m describing is how well functioning regulation occurs in practice. It’s messy and it does depend on people listening to the intent, conforming to the specifics, and not trying to get away with the opposite of the intent by minimally conforming. The fact that it’s not some idealized system escapes no one as undesirable, but at least in the 10,000 years we’ve been working on laws and regulation and governance this is as good as it’s gotten.