U.S.'s Rule of Law Endangered
Without water, little food and living in an area ravaged by not only cholera and typhoid but also Ebola, the 75,000 residents of the West Point area of Monrovia are now under a government quarantine. The Liberian army isn't firing any warning shots to enforce the quarantine.
The government is not sending in any food or water to the residents of the tin-roofed shacks. Facing death by starvation, disease or the army, what are the residents to do?
To get to the impact of the situation, one must realize that the main factor at work is the rule of law is not working in Liberia any longer. Three governments in 14 years during a savage civil war have left the majority of the country in a state of extreme poverty, permanent flux and on the verge of starvation.
You can shrug it off as somewhat normal in an emerging African nation if you want. After all you live in the United States of America.
But the key point is: the rule of law has been broken and people no longer trust the government to do the right thing.
Flash to the current state of affairs in America. Ferguson, MO, has been a hotbed of rioting. The economy, such as it was in this poor town, is in shambles from nearly two continuous weeks of civil unrest. Despite being quelled by the unspoken promises to bring the youth killing policeman to "justice", nobody yet has all the facts. What happens if the grand jury opts not to indict from the evidence provided?
What went on will surely reignite. Simply because the residents of Ferguson have lost faith in the "rule of law." They don't trust the local officials, they don't trust the state officials and they are being urged onward by outside influences.
I'm willing to bet every reader of this piece will have felt, at some point in the last six years, America has "lost the rule of law" as well. Because we have a government that continually operates outside the boundaries set by the major rule of law, the Constitution.
America has laws being voted on and passed where the language contained in the final version is never actually voted upon by the legislative bodies involved. A principle is voted upon instead of the law. That is in direct contradiction to what was intended by the Founding Fathers.
America has a Congress that can't decide (gridlock) on a daily basis and a President who has no qualms about stepping in an filling the void. The latter action is contradictory to what is stated in the Constitution. The Founding Fathers preferred gridlock to a spur-of-the-moment action that would surely be in error.
But worse, America is now saddled with a three-headed monster--the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary branches--which no longer enforce the rule of law but pick and chose which laws to enforce and which laws to neglect at will. If it is being done at the federal level, how long before the population decides it can act the same way and where is the "justice" if those individuals are then prosecuted by a government that does the same misdeeds?
It is a very slippery slope our government has set its feet upon.
While you, as an individual, may not agree with a particular law, you are still morally bound to abide by it if the government stands by the written regulations as well. But, if the government itself does not uphold each and every law as written, then the populace has the same 'right' to disregard the ones it does not agree with as well. That means chaos, just as is being witnessed in West Point today.
The government of Liberia has every right to try to contain the deadly disease. But then it also has to find a way to provide sustenance for those it has quarantined. To do otherwise is a death sentence for those in the quarantine.
Our government should have known better before it arbitrarily decided to disregard some of the laws it has on the books. The rule of law has to be paramount or there is no law and no restraints on the actions individuals take as well. What's fair for the goose goes as well for the gander.
Our elected and appointed officials have forgotten this basic premise. Without a moral constraint to abide by the rule of law, there is no real law. It becomes everybody for himself. Chaos will rule.
The fiat the government has decreed is the only lawful tender of the country will be challenged. The economic breakdown will be swift in that case and, in ensuing patterns witnessed, belief in the lawfulness of the current government will emerge as more and more people find themselves unable to provide life's basic necessities for themselves and their families.
Pick any spot where there is trouble in the world today and lack of a rock-solid government is the No. 1 reason that allowed the opposition to the status quo to gain a toehold. Americans have a precious gift given to few others--a free-will vote. Don't squander it on those who are willing to erode the provisions of the Constitution for political advantage.
"I have sworn on the altar of God eternal hostility to every form of tyranny over the mind of man."--Thomas Jefferson
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