What laws do we have to follow? Seems like there is an obvious answer to this question, but in California there is evidence that one gets to pick and choose.
Illegal fireworks went off all around me on July 4. Some caused brush fires. The users of the fireworks faced no penalties.
I see people running STOP signs all the time. I mentioned this to a police officer once and was told that the STOP signs in these neighborhoods are merely a “suggestion.” The cop was using dark humor to tell me police can’t be everywhere and enforce all the laws on the books.
State legislative, city and county action not only supports people who have entered the country illegally, but taxpayer money has been set aside for their defense if they are confronted with deportation. If the single payer health care law is passed as written, individuals would be entitled to health care coverage funded by taxpayers, legal residency not a requirement.
Maybe it’s the gun laws we have to follow. Like the one that makes a criminal of all Californians who possess magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. A court has temporarily put a halt to implementing that law. But if the law is ultimately upheld will the many who own such gun magazines turn them in or just ignore the law, as many experts believe?
This is a country of laws. John Adams spoke of “a government of laws and not of men.” However, more and more we are becoming a country in which men and women seemingly can choose to follow the laws they wish to follow and ignore others. There are ways to change laws or challenge laws in court. That is the route to go if laws are objectionable. To ignore laws, to pick and choose, is the road to chaos.