If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it.
– Julius Caesar, Roman dictator
Julius Caesar on the seizure of power nuances a collusion and collision of principles. This is a perpetual banquet for thought, and certainly not a contradiction in terms. It has, inevitably, necessitated and nurtured a rapidly burgeoning community of outlaws and outliers who don’t consider themselves outcasts, but misfits enmeshed in a genuine hypocrisy.
A dedicated outlaw lives outside of the law because he is not a lawbreaker, and therefore does not need any law to keep him in line. He lives an independently peaceful life, and finds the law unnecessary, at best a necessary evil. He wants to be left alone. He has seized power over his personal affairs.
An outlier is someone who stands apart from others of his or her group, as by differing behaviour, beliefs, or religious practices, and is no threat to anyone especially to himself. He thyncs different and wants to be different. He wants to be left alone, too, and has no need for any law. He bothers no one.
In America, outlaws and outliers live off the grid and off the land by hunting, fishing and farming independently. They stay out of trouble and have absolutely no need for government and its infrastructure. And, they never vote. Contentment is their lot.
Meanwhile, the certified lawbreakers commit to some excuse, reason, purpose, justification or explanation in the shadow of a law fashioned to save them from prosecution. They hold hidden positions of power. The frontline faces the polls. The formula works.
Outlaws and outliers know legislatures as incubators of mischief that create laws to placate a host of mischiefs. It is not unlawful to do something for which no prohibitory laws exist until someone realises that it is wholly profitable, which then triggers the necessity of the protection of newly developed laws.
“It is true that power corrupts. The hope at the polling stations and the actions of the elected representatives, unfortunately, often turn to be opposite. The power of the ballot turns into the power of the wallet. Some lawmakers become lawbreakers,” observed a former Mongolian president. Citizens United v Federal Elections Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010) says it all.
Ayn Rand, the greatest guru of objectivism: “Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed or enforced nor objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt,” by creating job opportunities for crime-busters.
Sir George Savile, a British politician, raised an interesting point that “the law has so many contradictions and variations from itself that the law may not be improperly called a law-breaker. People who dispense the laws have taken an oath not to reveal its secret.” If the facts and the written law can’t and don’t match, then something’s got to give so that one can easily be squeezed into the other. And, justice for all?
“Laws are like cobwebs which may catch small flies but let wasps and hornets break through,” remarked Jonathan Swift. And that holds true for vested interests that keep lobbyists busy. If the government does something not wholly lawful and palatable, it’s called policy. The average citizen doesn’t have a prayer.
Outlaws and outliers are mobilised to govern themselves where power becomes unnecessary. Consensus alone by the majority can defeat power wielded by power-crazy politicians. Power could become obsolete like an anachronism. Why use a typewriter when a word processor with a spell-and-grammar-check can do a better job.
Self-governance minus power and authority has ushered in various factors and actors. The American “founding father” James Madison, a committed crusader for a federal government, said that “if men were angels, no government would be necessary, and if angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” Madison the philosopher?
Self-governance advocated by outlaws and outliers make outcasts of government and neo-colonialism. The 2nd Amendment, US Bill of Rights, is showing true grit. Politicians are looking for heads to scratch. People are looking for heads to roll.
This is to be expected when official government documents look like broken down monuments, and when the half-dazed sheeple realise that they are people endowed with certain inalienable rights. It can happen anywhere “We, the People” defines the minority “Us, the selfish individuals.”
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
