Dear Friends,
It seems to me, a lawmaker who doesn’t subject himself to his own law, is like a cook who won’t eat his own cooking. In the case of a cook this can lead to gastrointestinal distress, but in the case of a lawmaker, it leads to economic depression, rising crime rates, societal breakdown and eventually tyranny. The negative consequences of a lawmaker who refuses to follow his or her own law is very much more dangerous than a careless cook.
Not only today but throughout human history we see that lawmakers are loathe to follow their own laws. Thrasymachus said it best, the great men among us only seek to appear just while being unjust. He thought that in order for society to work, the people must be just in action, but the powerful among us need not be. Harry Truman had a saying for this type of politician, “Anyone who gets rich in politics is a God damned crook.”
No greater incentive can be foisted on society to break the law than when we look up at our leaders and they don’t follow the law themselves. They break their own rules and get rich doing it. Until recently, a legislator in the US could engage in insider trading, without breaking the law. You or I would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for that. Yet those that made that law refused to be subject to it, because to be just and follow their own law, would hamper their ability to get rich in politics.
Confucius said that people follow their leaders. If those leaders are corrupt then we will follow them into corruption and when they are virtuous we will follow them to virtue. This seems like a self evident fact but is lost on most of humanity. We look to the Elite for guidance in what is a good life. Then we emulate them in their choices. We go where they lead us.
A few examples of the Elite leading us astray are, a vice President caught blatantly violating campaign finance laws saying, “There is no overriding legal authority,” the Treasury secretary caught cheating on his taxes, rampant vote fraud, constant coverups, those lawmakers who are a broken radio calling for higher taxes chiseling on theirs, a Legislator for hire caught with cold cash in his freezer, the President sending guns to Mexican drug lords and vilifying honest legal gun owners for it, coupled with untold sex scandals.
This is why we see so much disease in our societies. Divorce is rampant, abortion is so common… Planned Parenthood, (An ironic name if ever there was one), murders a baby every ninety seconds, school shootings fill the news, drug use is rampant and there is not a community that hasn’t seen an epidemic rise in embezzlement. These things are all results of us following our leaders. We have become miscreants just like the people who make our laws.
That is why the Elite need to monitor us with such intrusive measures. Our streets are filled with video cameras, our emails and tweets are stored on a government computer, (how long until they are opening our mail), the unbiased media is filled with calls to outlaw the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, in fact, the Constitution itself has become despised by those very people who are supposed to be bound by it! This must be done because we have emulated the Elite too well.
Our liberties are threatened at every turn while the Elite accept less and less controls on their actions. It is getting so out of control that people, on both the right and the left, are talking about armed insurrection! This is pure childishness! The answer is not violence, it is to monitor the Elite, and force them to follow the Constitution as well as their own laws. Until we do that our society and civilization will continue sliding into the abyss of oppression. We have followed those reprobates and have become reprobates ourselves. God help us if we slide much further. This is no mere bellyache… It is an assault on us, our society and our rights. Isn’t it about time for a NUMA?
Sincerely,
John Pepin
