Law

Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear…never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others.

Let reverence for the laws…be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; –

let it be written in primers, spelling books, and in almanac; – let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed from the legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice.

[L]et it become the political religion of the nation…. Abraham Lincoln January 27, 1838

*Law is reason free from passion. (557) (Aristotle)

*The end [product] of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom… John Locke (2488) (Second Treatise)

*No man is above the law. No man is below it. Teddy Roosevelt (1748)

*Have the utmost respect for the law when the law has the utmost respect for itself. (1777)

Who is more dangerous to a civilized society – a gangster, or a rogue cop? I believe it’s a rogue cop.

You can tell a gangster a mile away by his clothes and accessories, his braggadocio and hostility, his tattoos, music, and his associates. Since you can be forewarned, you can be forearmed.

Cops all look and act alike. You can’t tell a good one from a bad one, and, in putting your trust and safety in the hands of just any uniformed policeman, you might fall into the clutches of a corrupt, racist, or predatory rogue cop.

Unquestioning respect for law and lawmen is essential in a free society. When a person is abused by a rouge cop, trust and respect for the law is destroyed for him, his family, and his friends.

Rogue cops have committed every crime in the book including the murder of fellow officers and their families to cover up police corruption. Rogue cops have to be exposed, tried, and punished, and the whistleblowers, whether colleagues or civilians, should be lauded by their police departments and the community.

*Hate evil and love the good; remodel your courts into true halls of justice… (2743) (Amos 5:15(a)

If you watch TV a lot, you’ll begin to believe that it’s the duty of the defense attorney to do everything in his imagination to get the defendant set free, even if the defense attorney knows the defendant is guilty. This is incorrect.

If the defendant is innocent, it is the duty of the defense attorney to present evidence to prove his innocence. If the defendant is guilty, it is the duty if the defense attorney to make sure our system of justice works, and the accused gets a fair trial.

It is the duty of the defense attorney to be educated and capable enough to prove the innocence of the defendant, or to force the prosecuting attorney to prove the guilt of the defendant.

When a defense attorney knows his client is guilty, but invents lies, accuses innocent people of the crime, or uses things like racism and bigotry to skew the trial; that attorney should be exposed for what he is – a scumbag. He is a person who enjoys trampling on the judicial process, and has complete contempt for justice. He should be despised and distrusted by our judicial system, and exiled from decent society.

Another reason our courts should be “true halls of justice” is because when they become halls of ignorance, emotionalism, and prejudice, innocent people and businesses can suffer from frivolous lawsuits.

In December 1997, K. Walton of Delaware, tried to get into a nightclub by crawling through a window of the ladies room. She didn’t want to pay the $3.50 cover charge. She fell and broke her front teeth, so she sued the night club. Payoff: dental expenses and $12,000. She should have been charged with trespassing.

In May 2000, A. Carson of Philadelphia, threw a soft drink at her boyfriend during an argument in a restaurant. Then she got up to storm out, but slipped in the soft drink and broke her tail bone. She sued the restaurant. Payoff: $113,500. She should have been charged with assault and disturbing the peace.

In January 2000, K. Robertson of Austin, was shopping in a furniture store and tripped over a toddler who was running amuck The toddler was her own son, but she sued the store anyway. Payoff: $780,000. She should have been charged with creating a public nuisance.

In November 2000, M. Grazinski of Oklahoma City, was diving his motor home down the freeway at 70 mph when he decided to fix himself a cup of coffee. He put it in cruise control and walked to the kitchen. Amazingly, he crashed! So he sued the company that sold him the motor home. Payoff: a new motor home and $1,750,000. He should have been charged with reckless endangerment.

We’ve all heard about the woman who bought a cup of coffee from Mc Donald’s, put it in her lap, drove away, then spilled some on her. She got burned! Duh! She sued because the coffee was too hot. How much coffee would anyone sell if they only sold luke-warm coffee? How much coffee would anyone buy if they could only buy luke-warm coffee?

And then there’s the fat people who claim they got that way because they eat at fast-food chains. It seems these fat folks who can’t stop themselves from gorging on junk-food are suing because they are wishing to be protected from themselves.

These joke-trials can only succeed with the help of greedy, sue-happy lawyers, and idiot jurors.

Many Americans might think that having a nation of ignorant, illogical citizens is no concern of theirs. The problem is, these ignorant, illogical fools become jurors, and there are multitudes of idiot jurors roaming loose in the courtrooms of America. They may sit on your jury and decide your fate.

Also, when a jury is comprised of people whose minds are governed by emotion and prejudice, the verdict can be an extreme miscarriage of justice. How many innocent Americans have been found guilty because of the color of their skin, or were acquitted because of the color of their skin. I think everyone remembers that bloody business in Brentwood a few years ago.

*Obedience to lawful authority is the foundation of manly character. (2004) (Robert E. Lee)

*There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law. (2752) (Abe Lincoln)

(Martin Luther King, Jr. realized the uselessness of rioting and had this to say about it:
“The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.”)

*If you don’t like cops, the next time you’re in a car accident, call a gangster. (2265) We’ve probably all heard someone say they don’t like cops. They are merely unthinking folks who haven’t had the displeasure of living in an anarchy. This is how I handle them:

Me: “So you don’t like cops?”
U.F. (Unthinking Folk): “No, and I wish there weren’t any.”
Me: “If there weren’t any cops, you wouldn’t be able to go to the grocery store.”
U.F.: “What are you talking about?”
Me: “If you went to the store, I’d go to your house, kidnap your wife and children, and sell them into slavery. Then I’d steal all your stuff.”
U.F.: “#%*@!” (“You can’t do that!”)

Me: “Who’s gonna stop me? And if you came home and gave me any lip, I’d shoot you. I just might shoot you anyway so I could have your house.”

*Today’s hard-liner on law and order is yesterday’s liberal who was mugged last night. (2387) (Ronald Reagan)

*Support your local police. (1759)

Winston Churchill said “the mood and temper of the public with regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilization of any country.”

In Life Sentence, Chuck Colsen, a Christian prison reformer, described some of America’s prisons as “wretched pits of violence, filth and despair.” This book was written 25 years ago, so hopefully conditions have improved since then.

What are the conditions of the jails and prisons in your area? Is your philosophy “out of sight - out of mind,” or “they’re just getting what they deserve?”

Believe it or not, there are some innocent people behind bars, and some people with extreme sentences for minor crimes. Is it OK to treat all imprisoned people as (and sometimes worse than) caged animals, just to make sure we “get” the guilty ones? Do you have enough trust in government bureaucrats (people with prejudices and agendas, just like us) to believe that they are allowing all of America’s prisoners to be humanely treated?

We have to remember that Jesus told us in Matthew 25 that those of us who will not visit and minister to those who are prisoners will be dealt with rather harshly on judgment day.

If you cannot visit a prison, then you can, at least, research the conditions in your local lock-ups, and then deal with it through a letter or phone call. Or you might want to make a contribution to a prison ministry.