From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@yahoo.com)
Date: Tue Jul 30 2002 - 09:34:41 MDT
--- Lee Corbin <lcorbin@tsoft.com> wrote:
> Randall writes
>
> > > Yes, but *who* is to decide what is right and
> wrong? You
> > > act like it is *entirely* a matter for the
> individual.
> >
> > It is. No one else has direct control over an
> individual's
> > actions, so the individual must choose whether to
> obey or
> > disobey any given law. Whatever the posturing of
> politicians
> > and lawyers, each individual *does* decide which
> laws to obey:
> > the only remaining question is whether the
> individual should
> > use his or her own reason and experience to guide
> that choice,
> > or simply submit.
>
> I say that their reason and experience should cause
> them to
> conclude that they should obey even the laws they
> disagree
> with, (fanciful exceptions aside, and it being
> understood
> that one lives in a fundamentally democratic
> society).
>
I'd have to disagree, but not entirely. If you live in
a constitutional society (not necessarily a democratic
one), you are entirely right to disobey laws that you
can reasonably argue are unconstitutional, at least
from a moral standpoint. Just disobeying laws because
you don't like them is still wrong, so there is a
difference between just not liking a law and believing
it to be unconstitutional.
One should not, however, get all self righteous in
thinking that they should be free from efforts by the
government to enforce laws the individual feels is
unconstitutional. It is your responsibility as a
citizen to not only civilly disobey such laws, but to
pursue the legal process of fighting them in court,
since breaking an unconstitutional law is the only
sure way to achieve standing in such cases.
Changing laws is done not just by getting people
elected to the legislature. Every citizen has three
votes, one being in the courtroom where not only is
the defendant tried, but the law with which s/he is charged.
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