That was the line Al Gore used back when he was campaigning against George W Bush back in 2000 in raising money at a Buddhist temple (where the monks has a vow of poverty). As I used to hear in Sunday school, and then say myself – an object lesson! By that, he just didn’t see any applicable law that applied to the situation – there was nothing there to stop him. There was no gate, if breached, that would cause a negative consequence to him. It was as if someone gave him a “Get Out Of Jail Free” card.
And that is the lesson. As a Conservative, I believe in the phrase “self-governance”. A two-fer: both meant that citizens should be able to govern themselves in a limited government – there is no monarchy or unaccountable entity to which to be responsible for regulations and laws set for them to merely obey. We, the citizens, elect our representatives in the law-making process. It is also is complementary to another phrase: self-responsibility. Combine them and one will have a sense of morality that says “I need to do the right thing – regardless if there is a law about this or not”. It is internal governance – that little guy that sits on your shoulder that says “you REALLY should think about NOT doing that” when you know you are wrong before you start. Right from wrong becomes a personal responsibility – even when no one is looking. Especially when no one else is there.
Being the Progressive that he is, Gore took advantage of the fact there there was not an “external governor” stuck in the ground in front of him that said “no, this is not right”. No flag, no cop, no bars, no signs – nothing. In the Progressive mindset, it seems that they depend on externalities to govern their behavior. Seeing nothing? Go ahead and do it! And he did. And then blamed the fact that there was no law there to stop him. Effectively, Progressives outsource that internal governance to others who have made the laws they must follow.
Like Gore, it seems that AG Eric Holder and his partisan crew at the Federal Dept of Justice are now claiming “hey, if there had JUST been another law in place”:
Facing questions about the Justice Department’s secret seizure of reporters’ phone records, the White House says that it will renew its push for legislation that would offer federal protections to journalists and their sources.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday that the White House has asked Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., to reintroduce the so-called media shield bill, which would in some cases, prevent reporters from being compelled to name confidential sources.
Right – so, seeing no Shield law in place that would act as a brake to what has now become the AP Phone scandal they went ahead and tapped the lines and snooped anyways? You just couldn’t just do so anyways? What, nobody went “wait – isn’t this a WRONG thing to do?” (even as they are already using the “national security” as the crisis of the day to track down a leak). Nobody’s internal alarm went “Ding-a-ling” for these ding-dongs that would have done this the proper way? That they couldn’t even use existing law to go “oh crap – no can do!”?
When Government won’t obey the law created to restrain itself, how can Tyranny not increase in leaps and bounds?
And this is the problem we face with the advent of multiculturalism, the continued secularization of the culture, the “do what feels good” vs the “do what is right” (Progressive values all). We have seen an explosion of laws and regulations – but in the whole, have we become a moral society? Or just a more legalistic one, always looking over your shoulder to see if you are doing wrong instead of your heart going “uh-oh, no no”.
I am afraid this will become more and more a problem – legalism never ends well. Government run and staffed by people who internally cannot tell right from wrong will end in true Tyranny. Why?
For they will make more and more laws as they just will not accept that some of us (most?) actually do listen to that small still voice that says “Wait – and think” and do not need that external law to moderate our behavior.
(H/T: Hot Air)
