Are bad laws the worst tyranny?
Forty one presidents before the liberal United States got Trumped at the polls. A (paraphrased) President Madison said: “It will be of no purpose if laws are so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so illogical that they cannot be understood or obeyed.”
In the US of the early 1800s, more than 75% of today’s federal laws were not on the statute books.
How are business enterprises affected by laws and red tape? Do honest people ever consider whether laws and regulations help or hinder?
This is not about Common Law (laws derived from custom and legal court precedents). Much of our common law results from universal principles of decency and justice - such as don’t harm, injure, defraud, coerce or steal. Common law is both reasonable and appropriate for humans.
Martin Luther-King said, “One has a moral responsibility to disobey bad laws.”
“Typically, they can be defined as disenabling decrees made up by a bunch of politicians and then enforced by the organs of State – and they form a large part of Statutory law and regulatory edicts.
Unless you are wired to be paranoid and have the expertise to understand the countless laws and regulations impacting your business and personal life, be aware. It is only when asleep (alone, in your own bed) that you will likely experience a moment of freedom from transgres-
But what are bad laws?”
sion and felony.
Are you aware of existing in a constant state of wrongdoing?
The other day, I counted eight offences committed before arriving at the office.
First transgression: not registering to pay a Skills Development Levy (a hidden tax disguised as a contribution to education), followed by two building regulation offences involving a gas bottle in the wrong position and a window on my house.
Driving to the office, I exceeded the speed limit by 8km/ hour and did not wear my seatbelt. To add insult to absolutely no injury, the gardener repaired the electrical lawnmower plug without sanctioned training. Nor had he been issued gloves.
Emerging entrepreneurs in particular are sometimes faced with the unenviable choice of “ignore the regulation, or ignore your hunger”.
I recall my own business 25 years ago, (when diesel was about R1.20 per litre).
We couldn’t afford the R600 cost to relocate a forklift. For an emerging business, every Rand counted and we hadn’t budgeted on hiring a specialised flatbed truck.
Ignore, or starve?
The following Sunday at 5am, with faulty brakes, we drove the unlicensed forklift through Johannesburg, on to the serene M2 highway (us- ing the forks neutral gear to slow down).
A calculated risk, or just plain stupid? Probably both, but we arrived relieved and able to start production on Monday.
Perhaps the crime is not in the bad law, but is in the making and applying thereof?
Neither politicians nor judges are obliged to do an appropriate impact study before passing a new law or ruling. If they were, would businesses and South Africans be wealthier, healthier, more employed and empowered? On average, yes, because many economic freedoms would be enriched without dogma as a guide. Legal remedy is a dream for most. For the tiny elite, wealthy enough to challenge laws in court, be careful. Judges are human and your challenge may be interpreted by a judiciary with an ideology quite foreign to your culture and values.
Should one break a disenabling and bad law?
The answer is self-evident. Common law criminality and illegal behaviour should never be tolerated. One should reflect deeply on remaining a productive, law abiding citizen.
Not all statutes and regulations are noble – especially those designed to protect us from ourselves, or those which stifle the development of com- mon sense and productive instincts.
Like most primates, humans learn by experiencing. People simply cannot be protected from every routine event, impulse and possibility.
South Africa has a particular history of really wicked laws applied harshly and selectively.
But in a democracy underpinned by basic rights, how do bad laws develop?
My guess is they fester in the grey area of people’s heritage or hurt and are often expressed in ways which force one to comply with another’s model of reality.
What you are allowed to say and do becomes a complex dance around people’s sensitivities. And they divide and mostly conquer us.
Academics refer to it as Cultural Entrapment. A disenabling set of misunderstood rules do not belong in statutes or court rulings.
Perhaps they would be better suited to the ear of a therapist, or a properly funded Truth and Reconciliation project?
Good people ignore bad laws mainly because they have no alternative. This response to an uneven society is a just reaction to liberalprogressive lawmakers.
They may be excellent at ideal virtues, but many are hopeless at understanding practical implementation and real-life consequences.
The creation and implementation of bad laws hinders the ability of countless ordinary South Africans to simply live an authentic life. Are bad laws the worst form of tyranny?