Oct 10, 2019, 6:03 PM
by James Louis LaSalle
Law is the glue that holds American society and culture together; we are not inherently smarter, nor do we have better natural resources than other countries.
What we do have is an idea, that we’re infused with our entire lives: respect for the rule of law. We go to court, we pay our fines, we show up for jury duty, the vast majority of defendants out on bond turn themselves in for their sentences, rather than flee. And it’s just an idea.
Kansas City, Missouri has around 500,000 people. It has a police force of 1100 officers, working in three shifts. At any given time, there’s perhaps 300 officers on duty. Policing half a million people. It’s only possible in a society where the citizens respect other citizens’ persons, property, and space.
The govt’s primary purpose is to provide me infrastructure to enhance my ability to generate income, purchase property, and protect those activities from other citizens, other countries, and the govt itself. It actually does this so well that we dwell on trivial issues, like who has to bake who a cake. Which is actually pretty awesome when you think about it.
Our system isn’t implemented with force. It’s there, lurking in he background, but it isn’t the prime mover. The IDEA of the rule of law is the prime mover. It’s why Americans find concepts like “sanctuary cities”, where the rule of law is suspended, utterly infuriating.
I would say it’s one of the single greatest factors in the election of Trump. Nothing offends your regular American more than someone escaping Justice.