Upholding the Law
One of the fundamentals of our American system of government is the rule of law, meaning that we follow laws and not the whims of individuals who may hold public office.
In the midst of this pandemic, we have seen many examples in other states of government officials imposing rather silly rules, only to find that those who make the rules often are the first to violate them, in a warped sense of privilege.
Such is the case in California, and you already know the story of the governor attending a birthday dinner at a fancy indoor restaurant despite what he told everyone else to do–namely, just stay home. Now that “stay home” rule extends through the entire state, even forcing one of the California NFL teams to play its games in Arizona.
When I saw a news release from the Orange County Sheriff’s office, indicating that it was not the Sheriff’s Department’s place to enforce mandates like this, at first I smiled and thought, ‘good for them’. And while I do agree that the mandates are far overbroad, I am really not sure how I feel about a law enforcement agency publicly declaring that it is not going to enforce a lawful order of a state official.
Not only does it suggest that law enforcement can enforce only those rules they agree with, it undermines the rule of law broadly, giving citizens the idea that if they don’t agree with a law, they can simply violate it.
We had plenty of lawlessness in the streets of our major cities this summer with no enforcement of existing laws thanks to executives who would not let police do their jobs. While California is no example for the rest of us to follow in about any respect, draconian mandates certainly are a bad idea.
But I think undermining the rule of law in this way may also be bad.News/Talk 1540 KXEL · Iowa Politics — Tue. Dec. 08, 2020
