The problem in America today is that no one understands what a principle is anymore.
Principles are guiding beacons. They are intended to define who we are, and they are rarely if ever compromised.
Principles may be expressed or implied in law, but they are not laws.
The principle of free expression may be codified in the first amendment, but the first amendment is not the principle of free expression.
Principles are awkward. They can force us to do things we don't want to do, like letting the nazis march in Skokie Illinois.
The principle of free expression demands that we defend the rights of others to express the ideas we hate the most.
Bringing in the law often provides wiggle room around these principles..for example perhaps finding some ordinance about the park or neighborhood to prevent the march.
The law allows the wiggle room to go around the principle when we find it to be inconvenient, while still patting ourselves on the back for the legality (rightness?) of our actions.
For historical perspective, the nazi party in Germany took the trouble to change the laws to make rounding up the Jews legal.
Apparently, they had a principle problem.
When we walk away from the basic principles we have as a culture, pay attention to how the laws change.
Pay attention regardless of whether you like or dislike the group it applies to, because when we abandon a principle for one, we can abandon it for all.
Our laws should reflect our principles, not the loopholes we need to create when we find them inconvenient.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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