I have always admired the Anatole France quote that the rich as well as the poor are forbidden by law from sleeping under a bridge. It summarizes the false illusion of an equality of power which does not exist. It is a position frequently sermonized by the elite wealthy who control any legal system.
Not only laws of course. Any belief in equality where none is possible. The “right to work” assumes an individual laborer enters into contracts with the same power as the employer. That is a ridiculous thought to anyone who actually has been a laborer. The “freedom of choice” to pick insurance or medical coverage too complicated and convoluted for any person to read. The constant aggravating requirements of needy people to obtain any help.
Sure, in such confrontations a few individuals have more clout than others. They and their friends who run government and media don’t see the problem.
Not simply the wealthy, of course. A legion of the arrogant, the liars, the criminals, and the easily mobilized ignorant are convinced that they also can sleep under any bridge they feel like because they are sure that they can afford the fine, talk their way out of any problem, or simply run away and ignore consequences.
If they can’t, they decide they are “victims.”
Civilization requires a rule of law, and the law will always favor those with power. That’s okay. But there is a limit to how cohesive a law which encodes “might makes right” can remain over the long term. Extending such simple truth to cosmic moral principle – and a hollow one at that – is what annoys me.
Enshrining the “right to less” as holy writ is an insane way to run a country.
HuntingtonHarborThoughts 