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Horrible analogy. If he wants to agitate for a change in the law, as the Civil Rights protesters did, that is fine, but to criticize the cops because they enforce an existing law is not even close to the same thing. MLK didn't ask that the cops not enforce Jim Crow laws, he asked that those laws be changed. Further, comparing laws which make an activity illegal to laws which deny equal rights based on skin pigmentation costs the argument any credibility which it might have.
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I'm sure I'm in the minority opinion, but I believe that every citizen in the chain should resist enforcing truly bad laws. That means prosecutors should not seek prosecutions in some cases even where guilt is clear, that police should not follow orders to enforce absurd or primarily harassing laws, etc.
Given the impossibly huge number of bad laws on the books, most of them AREN'T going to be changed anytime soon or even in our lifetimes.
Input your home state to view many of the cockamamie laws on the books. These are laws that ANYONE should know shouldn't be enforced. Go ahead, take a moment and do it:
http://www.dumblaws.com
Here are a few from New York:
-A fine of $25 can be levied for flirting.
-It is illegal for a woman to be on the street wearing "body hugging" clothing.
Nevada:
-Sec. 8.14.040. Sale of sexual paraphernalia.
It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, offer to sell or display for sale any device, including but not limited to dildos and artificial vaginae, designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs.
Florida:
-798.02 Lewd and lascivious behavior.
If any man and woman, not being married to each other, lewdly and lasciviously associate and cohabit together, or if any man or woman, married or unmarried, engages in open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior, they shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
-You may not kiss your wife's breasts.
-Penalty for horse theft is death by hanging.
Arizona:
-When being attacked by a criminal or burglar, you may only protect yourself with the same weapon that the other person posseses.
-There is a possible 25 years in prison for cutting down a cactus. (comment: 25 years!??? Come on.)
Amazed yet? Why aren't THOSE laws changed yet? Well, don't expect many bad laws to be changed; there are just too many of them on the books. The examples given are just the tiniest tip of the iceberg. Political inertia, and backlog too, will prevent most bad laws from being changed or removed.
This raises the question: how are police and prosecutors they supposed to know it's a bad law? Common sense and their consciences should tell them, in most cases.
Poker being illegal is a bad law. Many cops, judges and even some past or present U.S. Supreme Court judges play poker. I used to play poker with a judge, a couple of decades ago.
If prosecutors and police would refuse to implement stupid and immoral laws, many of which merely harass the populace, the country would be far, far better off, in my opinion.
The moral judgment of the ordinary citizen > the law in most cases. This is the key point and the key hurdle that many will have a hard time accepting, but if you think about it, you will see that it is usually true.
I think the best thing that could happen would be that citizens,
including citizens who happen to be police and prosecutors, would simply stop supporting or participating in the enforcement of what they believe to be bad laws. In most cases, they'd be right. Of course, I'm not advocating ignoring heinous crimes like rape or murder.
It could be a grass-roots movement to say: the hell with the BS that goes on. It would be a move toward common sense and empowerment of the citizenry and people, instead of the political elites calling the shots and the police and prosecutors playing the role of uncritical cogs in an unjust wheel. It would greatly reduce the harassment of ordinary good citizens over fairly minor matters.
Come on good people, please use your common sense and the good judgment that God gave you, and stop doing the Devil's work by supporting bad and unjust laws.
Thank you all for reading.
edit: this entire post regards the body of criminal law, not other types of law. There are an immense number of absurd and harassing criminal laws on the books and that is the focus of this post, along with what I think would be a good thing for people to do about it.
Thanks again for reading.