LOOK AROUND AT OBAMA AND HILLARY DEFYING THE LAW WITHOUT CONSEQUENCE, and then, even if you read it when it first came out, reread The Coming Middle Class Anarchy. “What’s really important is that law-abiding middle-class citizens are deciding that playing by the rules is nothing but a sucker’s game. . . . When the backbone of a country starts thinking that laws and rules are not worth following, it’s just a hop, skip and a jump to anarchy. TV has given us the illusion that anarchy is people rioting in the streets, smashing car windows and looting every store in sight. But there’s also the polite, quiet, far deadlier anarchy of the core citizenry — the upright citizenry — throwing in the towel and deciding it’s just not worth it anymore.”
Nobody likes to feel like a sucker.
I keep writing about The Rule of Law – it IS one of the pillars of the American way of life and a large part of American Exceptionalism in that all are equal in the eyes of the Law. But when our leaders decide that laws are only for the little people, and when we little people see those in government (or those well connect to them) deliberately flouting both the Letter and the Spirit of the Law, well after some time, is there really any reason why anyone should be if doing so puts you and your family behind the eight ball? Go read that link and think about what is happening today. For the purposes of this post, put aside (but don’t forget) the absolutely stupefying amount of laws and regulations that one is required to know and understand (but impossible to do so) – why would one not get the feeling (read the link) that things are being set up for failure, no matter how hard one tries to “do the right thing”. If that “right thing” is all but out of reach, why bother?
After all, our “leaders” are acting like they are outside of the law. And if they are, and the rest of us “go Galt”, well, one can figure out what happens next. That said, these “leaders” are setting the incentives by what they do with the Law – fine for me but not for thee. Problem is, as has happened throughout history, the “me’s” find out that the “thee’s” severely outnumber them and the tables get turned.
And given that traditional values are being rubbed out by the “me’s”, there will be little in the way of internal governance that would stop the “thee’s” once the Law is seen as the sham it is becoming.
(H/T: Instapundit)
