Think we are a "nation of laws?" DO YOU????

[JFN1]

A "nation of laws," are we? Really?

It's funny, how often I hear that term bandied about. It's another of those meaningless popular terms, with about as much denotation as "where's the beef?" Oh, I know what you're thinking - I've been victim to that kind of thinking for quite a long time. You're thinking I'm completely full of crap, that one look around will easily demonstrate we are a "nation of laws." Just look at the courts, at the cops, and at the prisons; look at our Federal government, busy with the work of governing through all those laws on the books. Why, we have more people in jail per capita than any other nation on Earth; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisons_in_the_United_States">the United States has 5 percent of the world's population and 25 percent of the world's incarcerated population. Of course we are a "nation of laws." Duh.

I used to believe it, too. However, I have come, sadly, to the conclusion that we are NOT, by any stretch of the imagination, a "nation of laws."

Rather, and much more accurately, we are simply a nation which HAS laws.

Take a look around where you live, any day of the week, any time of day. With certainty, you will find lawlessness. Or just look in the mirror. Did you speed on your way to work today? Practice illegal lane usage, follow too closely to someone, or break any other traffic laws? Ever been glad a cop didn't see you do something? Maybe you had a couple of beers after work, and drove home anyways, without regard for DUI laws, since you weren't "really drunk?" Did you sit down in front of a television with "free" cable running into it?

Before you take any of the examples above personally, understand I am generalizing off the top of my head, and I am not looking to accuse anyone of anything particular. So please, spare me your denials and curses for lumping all of you "honest" people in with the rest of us humans. Suffice it to say, we all are capable of the things listed above, and if you don't think you are, then I advise you to get real.

We Americans talk a good game of being a "nation of laws." But we really, and truly, don't practice it. What would it be like, to live in a "nation of laws," where everyone did their utmost to uphold the law, to act lawfully at all times, and to respect the "little" laws, as well as the "big" laws? Would it be all we seem to strive for, by having laws on the books? Or would it be something else?

I'm not talking about "moral authority" or anything like that. I'm talking straight up common sense. Given our behavior, if we can look honestly at ourselves for five seconds, do you really, and truly believe we are a "nation of laws?" Or do we simply have laws? Seems to me if we were actually a "nation of laws" the folks running our country right now would one, never have been elected to begin with, and two, would never be able to do the things they have done, and done, to date, without consequence.

I am SO SICK of hearing people complain about the State of our Union, who spew the nonsensical meme that we are a "nation of laws" and as such, maintain some kind of "moral authority" to judge everyone else around us, from national politicians to their own neighbors. It is this sense of righteous entitlement which just makes me want to wretch; who the hell do we think we are?

You think we are a "nation of laws?" Do you suppose the rest of the world sees us as such? Or is this image a purely American invention?

It is a long, long stretch, to call ourselves a lawful nation, when we have a couple of hundred thousand people occupying a country we illegally invaded. It is a long stretch, to call ourselves a lawful nation, when we can't even get to work without breaking our own traffic laws - "little" laws we ALL AGREED TO FOLLOW. And don't.

I'm all for civil disobedience, don't get me wrong. Breaking an unjust law, like marijuana laws, isn't about "lawlessness" in my opinion, it is about setting an unjust law straight. But the rest of it - the "little" things we all do every day in violation of common laws we've all agreed to follow, makes me question the validity of considering ourselves a "nation of laws." After all, if the Secretary of State, the President of the United States, or any other member of our government, does not feel compelled to follow the Constitution, our highest law, then how can it be said, on any level, that we are a "nation of laws?"

We might have started out that way; but that is not how things have turned out...

[MikeNearMcChord]

1. As Leona Helmsley would say

Laws are for little people. We break laws every day and we don't realize that, what scares me is that the increase of surveillence cameras or listening devices, that will be used to feed the prison-industrial complex(Funny I thought this was the United States of America) Daddy where can I join the local branch of Stasi?:silly:

[orpupilofnature57]

2. The law-maker ,breaker and enforcer have all been blurred from the beginning of civilization

Laws are observed rules ,our role as citizens has been changed forever, Traitors dance and Patriots fry.