In today’s society we entrust elected law makers, i.e. Politicians, to pass rules in order to govern our country and its citizens. Without a minimal set of specific rules our country of 300+ million people would live in anarchy and absolute chaos.
So, in no way am I saying that we should not have laws to govern our society. However, with every new law that is created, you will undoubtedly create more criminals and lose a vital piece of your own freedom.
The question we must ask ourselves is this. Are the laws we are creating truly for the betterment of society, or are we just creating more rules to create more prisoners?
There also seems to be a trend of creating laws on top of laws. Lets look at “Hate Crimes” for an example.
Is there really any core difference between a person who assaults someone because of there sexual preference vs assaulting someone who cuts them off in traffic? At the end of it all, a human was assaulted and the attacker crossed a line our society has deemed inappropriate behavior.
The question we must ask is this. Is it worth having another law that can be misinterpreted or misconstrued?
Assault is already against the law of the land, and that behavior seems to stem from “Hate” and “Anger.” So, why do we need specific language in laws that target “hate” as a motive? In my opinion, it seems as if hate was always the motivating factor.
And, moving forward…
Laws can also be written out of prejudice and or bias. Again, I am not here to debate whether or not specific laws are just or necessary. For example, let’s take a look at the old Jim Crow Laws. Those laws were specifically created by prejudiced individuals within our governing bodies to target a specific race of people. Would that not qualify as a “Hate Crime” in today’s environment?
Let’s also look at marijuana which has recently gained a lot of publicity. Why is a doctor able to prescribe an opium derivative medication, but not marijuana?
Opium derivative drugs are basically legalized heroin. In my opinion, this falls into the realm of bias. Due to laws that are biased in favor of pharmaceutical companies, doctors are not legally allowed to utilize the natural healing properties of marijuana.
And moving forward, let’s look at the state of Georgia. Georgia has laws that prohibit gambling. Gambling is illegal in the state of GA, but the state runs a lottery program with far worse odds than any Vegas casino. So, in this specific situation, the governing body of the State of Georgia is allowed to disregard its own laws.
There are also several laws that are not equally applied to every citizen.
Congress is either totally exempt from or has less restrictions than the average citizen regarding several laws. Members of Congress are also nominally 12 times richer than the average U.S. citizen.
- Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970
- Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act
- Ethics in Government Act of 1978
- Independent Counsel
- Limitations on Gifts
- Personal Gain
- Outside Compensation
Furthermore, there are too many instances to count where local municipalities exempt themselves from their own permit policies and local ordinances. Research your local municipality to see just how unfair your city/county treats its citizens.
How can a law be passed that does not apply to every person?
If I was to create a law that I did not have to follow myself, i.e. exempt from said law, I do not see how I could weigh its fairness in regards to the local citizens, due to the fact I am exempt from following that specific law. Bias? Maybe, I just don’t know.
Another trend in government, is to pass bills and laws that have been bunched into groups instead of passing each individual bill or law on the basis of their own merit.
Here is an extreme example:
Representative #1: “Hey, lets pass a bill to save the rain forest.” Representative # 2: “That sounds great! I will vote for that bill if we can add a section that will allow the oil companies to destroy the ocean with impunity.”
I would classify the above example as an extortion of the the law creating process.
Here are two excerpts from wikipedia and dictionary.com which define extortion:
Wikipedia – where one person feels indebted against their will, to another, in order to receive an essential service “Vote for my bill or I will not back yours.”
Dictionary.com – to compel (something) of a person or thing.
We are hearing time and time again that our government could not come to an agreement because of extortion from both parties.
So in summery, by last count it was estimated that there are 4850 federal criminal statutes and we are not even counting state and local laws.
That is 4850 laws that will create criminals and take away your freedoms.
Again, I am not saying we should not have any laws, but there are already way too many laws on the books. Do we really need more laws?
I will just have to hope and pray that I am not breaking any of them.