Posted by
Scaramouche on Wednesday, November 07, 2007 10:57:36 AM
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good
or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is
contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds
contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto
himself; it invites anarchy.
Author: Louis D. BrandeisThe United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.
Author: Frank ZappaSettle for a single quote for such a sumptuous subject as law; are you mad? From noteworthy beginnings such as the Code of Hammurabi, to the Bible (not withstanding that the Bible also purported to reveal the law of God), all the way to the U.S. constitution men have entertained ways to exact proper conduct from their contemporaries. Proper, that is, as judged by men. Other than the Divine, which Scaramouche attempts to intuit and acquiesce, the laws of man tragically line that well known road and the intentions with which it is paved. One of the very few positive things learned from my father was that all wars were fought over boundaries (property lines) and, to phrase it charitably, women. Entertain, if you will, the notion of boundaries and the concept of sovereignty as applicable to nations and to law. Consider if you will the enormous popularity of the expression "rule of law". Mules aren't educated enough to know the origins of such phrases, and their laziness, which would preclude the proper research, is legendary. Still, what a marvelous shibboleth for a nation as grand as the United States of America to self apply. We are a nation under the rule of law. Makes you shiver with self-righteousness, doesn't it? Always in a melting pot such as ours however, there exists that pesky problem of identifying which are "us" and which are "them". Conumdrums of this nature are not dealt with lightly in today's society. There are simply too many competing interests with voices given varying volume and significance by the holders of the microphone or pen. It should be times like this when we are obliged to rest securely in the law. HA! The lawmakers, the law enforcers and the law breakers are indistinguishable one from another. So, our "leaders" bid us to endure while such a matter is settled, ignoring the voices of the masses, and ignoring the continuing trespass of the law all the while. The last sentence of Justice Brandeis' quote sums the matter with sufficiency which silently begs for an alternative. Suggestions anyone? Men who fail to make the hard decisions may not survive to make the easy ones.