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Title : Can we legislate civilization?
link : Can we legislate civilization?
Can we legislate civilization?
In his most recent show, Bill Maher articulated a point for which I've been trying to find the right words. The point is perhaps best summarized in a largely-forgotten axiom which I first heard as a boy:
Civilization depends on the vast majority of people observing rules which can never be legislated.
Obvious example: No law requires you to say "please" and "thank you."
No law stops you from picking your nose and eating the boogers in public. No law requires you to feel embarrassed when someone accuses you of being self-absorbed. No law requires you to lower your voice when someone tells you that you're talking too loudly. No law prevents you from staring with unnerving intensity at the person sitting in the next restaurant booth. No law requires you to love your children or your parents. No law requires you to at least pretend to be happy while interacting with others during the holiday season. No law requires you to give one dime to the indigent.
You can come up with a thousand other examples. Any society which tries to write legislation which would cover all such contingencies would soon devolve into an oppressive, legalistic nightmare. But suppose everyone suddenly decided to exercise his or her right to break all "rules" not actually enforced by the police? What would happen then?
The Trump presidency shows us what happens when norms, traditions and unwritten rules are tossed aside. Do we need a Constitutional amendment to require presidential candidates to release tax information? Do we need a new amendment to regulate the use of the pardon power in cases when the president himself is under investigation? Do we need a law to require a president to place his business in a truly blind trust, or to sell his business interests altogether? Do we need a law forbidding the president from firing an FBI head who is investigating the president? Do we need a law requiring the president to hold press conferences? Do we need a law requiring the president to tell the truth?
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