Simple Rules: ZAP, and the current state of the Country

Libera_me Sun, 12/27/2015 - 01:56
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Back on Popular Liberty, there was once a thread on the tyranny of too many laws. There are many good quotes about this topic, G. K. Chesterton's being one of my favorites.<!--break--> "If Men will not be governed by the Ten Commandments, they shall be governed by the Ten thousand commandments."  Whether you agree with the Mosaic Ten Commandments, (or a different set of laws) or you would narrow it down to one or two, (What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.~ Hillel  or Y'shua (Jesus) of Nazereth's two: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.) we would agree that a minimum of laws are necessary.  We would also likely agree: the greater the number of laws, the more lawless the leadership becomes. (this is seen in the tendency members of Congress have to exempt themselves from the laws we second-class citizens are required to keep.) In oligarchies the laws can be even more dictatorial,(the colonies under King George, the House of Lords and the House of Commons) but a dictatorship is likely to be the worst of all.(Just look at China under Mao or Russia under Stalin) So not only does the increase of laws decrease liberty, so does the centralization of government.

The difficulty lies in how much control is both tolerated for ourselves and inflicted on others. We saw "The Defense of Marriage Act" Passed, only to see years later businesses being sued because they did not want to perform specific services that they believed violate their moral principles. So, there was some backlash from the opposing community, and this is how our rights are stolen by both the right and left sides of the aisle..

The lack of empathy for the folks on the other side of the issue causes both to attempt to not only control one state, but to get the Federal government to restrict freedoms further. I grant that in some areas it is not so, gun rights being one where I clearly see one side is 'grabbing' or attempting to grab rights from another,( without an opposing action) but this otherwise seems to be a consistent pattern. One solution for this to remind both ourselves and others : we want to be treated with respect, courtesy and understanding, so we should treat others that way, even if we disagree with the position they hold. A helpful site for this is the Zero Aggression Project site:

https://www.zeroaggressionproject.org/mental-levers/

There are two great questions for the "there ought to be a law" crowd that should provoke some soul searching..

 

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Speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly, defend the rights of the poor and the needy.~~ Prov.30: 8 & 9