Laws

[owl]

   How do you decide which laws you will obey and which you won't?

 

[AltTransBikes]

For myself the answer is simple, consult the wisdom of the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do to you.<br>The social contract is the price paid for living in a civil society.<br><br>http://www.philosothon.org/WhyObeyLaws.pdf

 

[owl]

&nbsp;&nbsp; Pardon, do unto others as they do unto you? What I'm asking is, how do you decide which laws you will obey and which you won't? Such as, do you camp or overnight where it is illegal? Do you exceed speed limits etc.

 

[lampliter]

The law of Love; obey it and you've obeyed them all.<br>The man made laws are for criminals who don't obey them anyway.<br>Laws can also be used to manipulate others. Just ask any "lawyer".

 

[AltTransBikes]

<em><span id="post_message_1277041655">"Pardon, do unto others as they do unto you? What I'm asking is, how do you decide which laws you will obey and which you won't? Such as, do you camp or overnight where it is illegal? Do you exceed speed limits etc.</span>"</em><br><br>Right, I see the question as one of philosophical first causes. For me it simplifies it. Would you want someone camping on your land without permission? Would you want someone exceeding the speed limit if it endangers you? etc etc<br><br>

 

[bk2valve]

I try to obey laws in general...to me a speed limit is the upper limit to which you are legally allowed to drive...if I break that law and get caught, which happens sometimes I am cheerful about it and pay the price...I don't mind obeying the laws....as Alttransbikes suggests, it is a contract with society we make to live in it....Alaska is full of people who think different and chose to think they are not subject to those contracts.... <br><br>I know a lot of you folks are new on here but one of the rules of Bob's site is that we don't suggest, tell or infer that anyone break any laws....<br><br>I know that you aren't really suggesting they do Owl, but <em> I wonder if this thread is even something that is pertinent here.</em> Just wondering...I may be way off base to even suggest that, but that is how I interpret the forum rules...<br><br>Bri

 

[user 423]

<span id="post_message_1277040892">

How do you decide which laws you will obey and which you won't?

<br><br>Easy.&nbsp; The Man....<br></span>

 

[LFM]

I plead the&nbsp;fifth.

 

[twokniveskatie]

Ouch. Maybe I called it wrong Bri. I thought it appropriate since this comes up so much as people living "on the fringe". Maybe I am wrong. And of course you are entitled to that opinion.

I dont remember it being written in the rules about following the laws. I've never discussed with Bob making it so. I will though.

 

[bk2valve]

Oooops, my bad...sorry Owl, Katie and other posters...I mixed this up with Vandwellers Yahoo...it was brought up a lot there and was in the guidelines...here I don't guess it's an issue...<br><br>bri<br><br><br id="tinymce" class="mceContentBody ">

 

[owl]

&nbsp;&nbsp; The question I posed was in Off-Topic and Chit-Chat. No guidelines were violated. The question came up at a campfire I was&nbsp;enjoying during the RTR. As I recall someone was commenting on how so many weren't getting the free 14 day camping permit so they could stay on site longer than the 14 days allowed. These same folks were saying since it was against the law to burn downed wood from the area they wouldn't do that. Some of us then had the discussion about how do you choose the laws you will obey and those you won't. It was a thought provoking and interesting exchange. I thought since there are so many laws affecting those of us and this lifestyle a little introspection wouldn't hurt. Nothing really esoteric here, simply, how do you decide?

 

[owl]

&nbsp;By the way, bk, I think questions are always pertinent. I mean that in the best possible way! <img src="/images/boards/smilies/rolleyes.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">

 

[highdesertranger]

this thread could get out of control fast.&nbsp; therefore like lfm stated i'll invoke the 5th.&nbsp; highdesertranger

 

[bk2valve]

As i said, my bad, please disregard my posts....<br>Bri

 

[owl]

We don't get out of control here on cheaprvliving, do we guys?

 

[travlinman and wife]

the good book says we should obay mans laws as long as they dont brake gods laws

 

[owl]

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; tm, good point! Maybe this question requires too much. I'll go first. All my life it seems that because my lifestyle was so alternative I had to choose whether I would walk between the rails or stay outside the prescribed path. I never had a problem deciding. I never broke a law that impacted other individuals negativley. That being said, I have broken laws. Probably hundreds! I have camped all over the world where I wasn't supposed to. I have shot off fireworks illegally. Believe it or not when I was a child I drank from water fountains that were labeled colored only. I've slept on the streets and in parks. I brought alcohol and sold it on Sunday in dry counties in Texas and Georgia. Man, now that I think about it the list is endless. May be the question should be, what laws have you obeyed owl ?

 

[AltTransBikes]

Owl, it's an interesting question to me but one that must become philosophical and the reason I invoked the 'Golden Rule' upthread as perhaps a clumsy way of creating a baseline. IMO, if the question leads to a litany of laws we like or dislike, obey or disobey, or think stupid and such, it becomes completely subjective, IE: subject to the whims of individual or isolated opinion.&nbsp; <br><br>It is said we live under the ideal guidelines of being a nation of laws and not a nation of men. In a monarchy for example, the king could set the laws according to his personal desires and everyone was expected to obey them. The king could change them at whim to suit himself and it might be unpleasant if one did not keep up no matter how fickle or unpublicized they might be.<br><br>The laws we live under are supposedly a consensus template of the majority pertaining to wisdom and sound behavior to be able to live together and the recourse we're given if we don't like a law is to follow the protocol to get it changed, abridged or amended. <br><br>One can be convinced they know the difference between right and wrong and that they are benign in their aversion to not be subject to the tyranny of the majority. It is a valid point and one always in play in a constitutional legal system, that the minority opinion does not get trod under and maintains some degree of protection. <br><br>The danger I see in acquiescing to the picking and choosing of which laws to follow is not addressed to the honest person. As my dear old dad used to say "locks are made to keep honest people out".<br>The danger is if it becomes okay for you and I to choose, then does it become okay for the dishonest person as well?<br><br>Sorry for being long winded or for perhaps taking this thread in a direction you hadn't intended. It is not my intention to over complicate the question or derail the thread, rather it illustrates my own groping with what I think can be a profound and complex issue.<br><br><br>EDIT:<br>Rather than post another comment and further clutter up the thread in response to the question in the post below, I am adding it here as an edit. I thought I had answered the question in post #1 a couple of of times so it's clear to me I have nothing further to add.

 

[owl]

&nbsp;&nbsp; atb, I like your response! But I must, as hard as it seems,&nbsp; refer you to post number one. Surely you can answer the question?&nbsp;

 

[yesican]

I bet before the day is done, we've all broken some law or another.&nbsp; There are so many on the books.&nbsp; Not even lawyers and judges know all the laws and as we speak, thousands more are being put on the books.&nbsp;All laws are up to&nbsp;interpretation anyways.&nbsp; Instead of looking at what you CAN'T do, look at the constitution and bill of rights and look at what you CAN do.&nbsp; Life is much easier that way.&nbsp; You'll never be able to figure out what each of the&nbsp;state's laws you are likely to be breaking.&nbsp; <br><br>The constitution was based on God's laws...follow those and you'll notice that there are few of Ceaser's laws that you are breaking.<br><br>Rae