Worshipping The Law

in #law7 years ago (edited)


Laws can be wrong, we know that they've been wrong many times before. There is quite a distinct difference between legality and morality. And what is legal isn't always going to be what is right. In fact, many times throughout history when advances have been made and progress sought, it was through acts of civil disobedience and people choosing to side with their conscience rather than what was “legal” at the time. Today we look back on many of those people and we thank them for their sacrifice in helping to move us forward and open us to the truth, but there is still much progress left to be made.

No Organization Is Perfect, Everyone Makes Mistakes

The law is supposed to act as a barrier to ensure the protection of human rights and liberties, to defend against tyranny from the state. But what happens when the laws become so many that virtually everyone is guilty of one crime or another? And that is currently estimated to be the truth when it comes to the citizens in the United States. Many commit crimes without even realizing it. Also in many circumstances we see that there are numerous actions which are legal for officials of the state to carry-out, but those same actions are forbidden to be carried out by individuals in the community.

When Contradictions Arise

When a contradiction arises, of a person feeling as if their personal conscience and morality goes against that which is "the law," then the citizen is forced to either lose or erode his own moral sense, or he will lose his respect for the law.

We are at the present time, immersed in laws at every level, it's hard to even accurately estimate how many thousands are on the books. Many of these laws are introduced under the guise of being what's best for the community, but we know that there are many which aren't in the public interest. In such an environment, it enables prosecutors and officers of the law to cherry-pick which individuals they want to select to punish with all of these government edicts. Some might think of the Ross Ulbricht case as such an example. This environment quite literally, is the definition of a police state.

Indefinite detention (in violation of due process), torture, secret/extrajudicial killings (in violation of due process), mass surveillance, these are just some of the "legal practices" which if ended, might be for the better of our community and world. Slavery, genocide, wars (mass murder), these have all been perpetuated against the world under "legal" frameworks which deemed them "right" in that they were lawful. There has been a retreat in legal frameworks around the world to uphold and protect individual liberties, instead we have seen them used as tools to undermine and often violate those rights.

For true human freedom and economic well-being, we would likely fare better to do away with the lawmongering; making the move to terminate, rather than reform, many of the unjust rules on the books today, including those surrounding the long-standing wars on drugs and terrorism.

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Source:
https://mic.com/articles/86797/8-ways-we-regularly-commit-felonies-without-realizing-it
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704471504574438900830760842
http://www.activistpost.com/2016/03/call-it-what-it-is-america-is-a-police-state.html

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Simple reminder:

  • Slavery was "legal."
  • The Underground Railroad and other efforts to aid escaped slaves were "illegal."

Legality does not define morality.

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