The people instituting policies are not the same as the ones constructing and passing those policies. So the smartness of the policy is irrelevant. Obviously well-meaning is better than bad intentioned. Also the PayPal mafia is disturbingly bad-intentioned. And they have propaganda platforms that reach hundreds of millions of people.
Really? Surely you can see the issue when those "well-meaning, but dumb people" start instituting dumb policies that are counterproductive? Or did you mean to say that it was preferable to smart people with bad intentions?