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Six Degrees of the Law
I could spend this first issue of the Winona Press on the 'net talking about what it's all about and its history, but why waste your valuable time and my valuable space.
Here we go…
I've noticed that a majority of people that I talk to have a strange concept of the law. I like to call it, 'Six degrees of the Law' (huge surprise). Here's why:
Someone gets pulled over, "But officer, I was only doing 65 in a 60 zone. Why are you wasting your time with me? Why aren't you out there catching real criminals?" or at tax time, "I don't have to declare this income on my tax forms, the government will never find out about it."
We have different degrees, different 'lists' that we put laws into. "Oh I can do what's on this list because it's not really breaking the law (such as going slightly faster than the speed limit or not wearing a seatbelt) but that list over there, that stuff is real nasty (murder, arson, etc.) and should get you busted."
I'm here to tell you that this six degrees of justice is a man-made idea, and a flawed one at that. Mostly we use this idea to assuage our guilty consciences, to do something illegal and justify it in our minds.
Not that I'm a Bible thumper, but let's take the Ten Commandments as an example. God gave these commandments to Moses with this criterion-that they're all equal. So murder is as big a crime as coveting your neighbours donkey. Think about that--to God, killing someone is equally wrong as stealing a stick of gum. Punishment is another matter entirely, and the punishment must fit the crime, but we'll save this topic for another issue.
I like to think of it as a line in the sand. Everything on one side is what is right, just and honourable, but if you cross that line, you broke the law. No getting around it, you are a criminal.
Let me put it another way. The rational society says that doing 61 in a 60 zone isn't really breaking the law but doing 180 in a 60 zone is. (There are you speed demons out there who think that doing 180 in your 442 supercharged 'stang is fun but--oh I won't degrade myself into name calling) So somewhere between 61 and 180 is where the law is actually broken. Where is it? Where do you put the 'You have broken the law here' mark? I'll tell you where-where the law put it. If the sign says 60 and you go above that-Newsflash-You broke the law.
I did focus on traffic here, but every aspect of the law applies.
Now I know that this is a relatively simplistic view. But consider this: We all have ideas of what our ideal society would be. My ideal society would contain a government that would keep my freedom to swing my arm as much as I want unless my fist connects with your nose. Then and only then should the government intervene. You might not see immediately how this relates to the topic at hand but this is how it does:
Some of us break certain laws because we believe that the laws are unjust. Why follow a command when we don't believe in it? This is a pretty coherent justification for breaking the law. Or is it? Let's take Canada, for instance. There are 30 million people in Canada. That means that there are possibly thirty million different ideas, different views as to what is right. Further, this means that some, if not most people, will have ideas of laws that are unjust. My ideas might not match your ideas. But if we all started to break the laws which we believe are unjust, what do you think is going to happen?
Try anarchy. Try bedlam. Look at countries in the world that do not have a working justice system. Look at them and ask yourself, 'Would I want to live there?' Hey, if you want, go crazy.
If you don't like a law, then work at getting it repealed, appealed, or amended, within the law. We have a legal system-Use it!
Well, this tangent has gone on long enough. It's as clear as, shall we say, mud. And remember what mud spelled backwards is...
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If you have any questions, comments or rebuttals, e-mail me and maybe I'll even post it here.
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