Should We Obey All Laws?

by Walter Williams

Let’s think about whether all acts of Congress deserve our respect and obedience. Suppose Congress enacted a law – and the Supreme Court ruled it constitutional – requiring American families to attend church services at least three times a month. Should we obey such a law? Suppose Congress, acting under the Constitution’s commerce clause, enacted a law requiring motorists to get eight hours of sleep before driving on interstate highways. Its justification might be that drowsy motorists risk highway accidents and accidents affect interstate commerce. Suppose you were a jury member during the 1850s and a free person were on trial for assisting a runaway slave, in clear violation of the Fugitive Slave Act. Would you vote to convict and punish?

A moral person would find each one of those laws either morally repugnant or to be a clear violation of our Constitution. You say, “Williams, you’re wrong this time. In 1859, in Ableman v. Booth, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 constitutional.” That court decision, as well as some others in our past, makes my case. Moral people can’t rely solely on the courts to establish what’s right or wrong. Slavery is immoral; therefore, any laws that support slavery are also immoral. In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions (is) a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy.”

Soon, the Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of Obamacare, euphemistically titled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. There is absolutely no constitutional authority for Congress to force any American to enter into a contract to buy any good or service. But if the court rules that Obamacare is constitutional, what should we do?

Continue reading: http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2012/05/should-we-obey-all-laws/

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Permalink Reply by Cryptocurrency on June 2, 2012 at 6:09pm

Q: Should we obey all laws?

A: Only the ones that are legal

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Permalink Reply by Cryptocurrency on June 2, 2012 at 7:16pm

If it's not written in the Supreme Law of the Land (Constitution, Bill of Rights) then it shouldn't apply because some bureaucratic law makers cited a precedent for ruling in a court proceeding.

Legal is a subjective abstraction. Asking me what is legal is like asking a person what is cool, or what is good. If legal is defined by that which is written into law, or ascribed to law, from that standpoint I would say, subjectively, that which is legal is not inherently lawful :p

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Permalink Reply by Cryptocurrency on June 2, 2012 at 8:25pm

Lol high five brother.

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Permalink Reply by Nathan on June 2, 2012 at 8:21pm

Mala en se and Mala prohibita are very different animals. All law, lawful or not, carries force with it.

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Permalink Reply by Paladin10 on June 2, 2012 at 11:36pm

Law, if not enforceable is impotent. Legal is only a state of moral consience on ethics or beliefs. The Criminal Justice System is only a theory but has the trappings of fact. If you don't get caught then it is not illegal.....:) Semper Fi

Just a little fun for me......:)

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Permalink Reply by Nathan on June 3, 2012 at 1:20am

I like your sense of 'fun'. It carries the weight of reality with it.

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Permalink Reply by Meriem K. Peillet on June 4, 2012 at 5:19pm

well...You might obey, migrate or stand up, express your dissent and fight for your rights...

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Permalink Reply by Nathan on June 4, 2012 at 6:03pm

"I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do." Robert A. Heinlein

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Permalink Reply by habeas7 on June 5, 2012 at 3:55pm

just in case no one has brought this to every ones attention! the FEDS have no power to effect anyone in the USA unless you have perhaps some interstate business. the CONGRESS has no direct control over anyone. what they have power over is to regulate. what they have done is make people believe that the FEDS may regulate everyone within the USA. this is a BS rumor and brainwashing! mostly thru the hmmmm, GOV. schools, and the MASS MAIN STREAM MEDIA! Most of the laws we all live with are state LAWS, not federal laws. FACT: there is no such thing as a FEDERAL LAW, they are all regulations! [C.F.R.= CODE of FEDERAL REGULATIONS] COME BEFORE THE STATUTES ARE ENACTED! {and anyone that would attempt to argue that, please just go away, cause you simply dont have a clue}

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Permalink Reply by habeas7 on June 5, 2012 at 4:03pm

and NATHAN: what you say is so very true, the GOV. cannot get into legally, any legal binding contract, but this what they have been doing. the USSC has ruled that GOV. cannot get into in any form a contract that they are not a party to. now you tell me if a court may do this if the LEGAL CONTRACT was not brought before the COURT. no Court has jurisdiction over all contracts as they are created, this is insane! if a CONTRACT is not contested, the COURT can only legally stay out of, cause the COURT has not been a party to it. in most contracts, there are two parties and no outside person...etc. may make themselves a party to it, not even the COURT, not even the GOV.