What has happened to the rules?

By Valerie Protopapas

Rule(s): noun – one or a set of explicit or understood regulations or principles governing conduct within a particular activity or sphere.

Law: noun – (often phrased as “the law”) the system of rules that a country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members usually enforced by the imposition of penalties upon those who violate same.

Creation has always had “rules” and “laws.” These are natural according to physical reality. Most of the laws we acknowledge involve the behavior of matter and energy and have nothing whatsoever to do with man save only when he misuses them often in an attempt to create (or destroy) something or someone. These rules, as noted, cannot be broken! They are part of creation itself and can only be “changed” by the Author of Creation – God Himself! Ergo, obviously the above title cannot refer to such “laws” as gravity or the speed of light, etc. No, we are speaking here of those “rules” and/or “laws” created by Man regulating mankind’s behavior and activities under varied circumstances. 

The main “rule” of nature itself is simple: the survival of the fittest. No one who has studied the natural life on this planet – and we must assume any other planet that contains life – believes that Mother Earth is a forgiving deity. Nature always maintains a balance that leads to both life and death, the latter sometimes on such a massive scale as to be called “mass extinctions” of the life on the planet that existed during such periods. There have been five such in our planet’s history*:

1. The end of the Ordovician period (444 million years ago)
2. Late Devonian period (360 million years ago)
3. The end of the Permian period (250 million years ago)
4. The end of the Triassic period (200 million years ago) 
5. The end of the Cretaceous period (65 million years ago) – the event that killed off the dinosaurs.

In none of these periods of time did Man exist on the planet, so our “carbon footprint” cannot be blamed for the disaster. And today we are nowhere near any such an ELI (Extinction Level Event) – barring, of course, some calamity such as the asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs (see 5 above). It is true, however, that Man has proved capable to doing a great deal of damage to himself and his environment by both accident and design. Still, we apparently appear to present more of a danger to our planet and our fellow man in our supposed efforts to prevent such an outcome than otherwise, a good reason to be wary of those who counsel and demand “action!” in planet-wide matters of apparent concern. 

On the other hand, the difference between “natural law” and “man-made law” is, as noted, that the latter relates directly to man and often addresses his ability to influence and even possibly destroy himself as well as often doing damage to “nature” itself (see Fukushima). 

Now, of course, we have moral law as laid down to us by the God of the Bible – in the much heralded Ten Commandments:

1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall make no idols.
3. You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain.
4. You shall keep the Sabbath Day holy.
5. You shall honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.

These “laws” are not of Man, but of God and are (or were) acknowledged to be rather universal. The first four involve Mankind’s association with God Himself while the rest dictate as to how Man is to behave within his own civilization, so as to receive God’s blessings and thrive upon the earth. Even those who do not recognize the God of the Bible understand that these Commandments provide a moral structure more than adequate to promote a healthy and thriving civilization! Indeed, most of these “laws” are found in cultures quite outside the religion that gave them to humanity in the first place! That is, they are known instinctively by Man in general as being essential to civilization itself! And from those strictures, all other “laws” and “rules” obtain and it is by those same subsequent laws that we actually have a human condition called “civilization!” For the simple fact is this: when these moral codes are discarded, mankind descends into chaos and darkness.

However, it is also possible to have too many laws! In the work, The Annals of Imperial Rome, the philosopher Tacitus exclaimed, “The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.” This is not an overstatement. To begin with, the more numerous both those employed by the State and the laws one must follow within the State, the more power accrues to the State and, subsequently, the less to the People.

Today there are those who declare that in the present United States of America, everyone probably breaks some kind of a law almost daily if not more often. It may not be a federal or even a state or local law but it’s bound to be some sort of mandate or declaration that is counted as a law even if it never underwent the necessary steps to create that legal condition! When such a situation is present, it makes of the general population, lawbreakers – and therefore a people less worthy of legal protection. After all, as the old saying goes, “ignorantia juris non excusat” or, “ignorance of the law excuses not (that is, is no excuse).” And since one is not permitted to plead ignorance of the virtually endless list of things that are forbidden, whatever you do, you can be held responsible for doing it despite the fact that you were unaware that you were, in fact, “breaking” a law!

The rationale of this particular doctrine is simple: if ignorance were a valid excuse, a person charged with criminal offenses or the subject of a civil lawsuit could merely claim that he was unaware of the law in question so as to avoid liability – even if that person really did understand the law involved. As a result, the law imputes knowledge of all laws to all persons within the accepted jurisdiction, no matter how transiently, though it would be impossible, even for someone with substantial legal training, to be aware of every law in operation in every aspect of a government’s activities. Nonetheless, this is the price that must be paid to ensure that willful blindness cannot become the basis on which to claim innocence. 

Of course, the doctrine assumes that the law in question has been properly promulgated (that is, proclaimed), by being published and distributed, in, say, a government publication, or made available over the Internet, or reproduced in volumes available for sale to the public at affordable prices. The need to provide this understanding is expressed in the ancient phrase of Gratian, “Leges instituuntur cum promulgantur.” (“Laws are instituted when they are promulgated.”) After all, it is clearly recognized that a “secret law” is, in fact, no law at all.

But laws are nothing more than words. They have no force in and of themselves. They gain force by their enforcement (!) through those agencies in the body politic assigned that duty such as the police and the courts. Therefore, the expected understanding of the law is that it has meaning; that it is created to provide strictures; that is, boundaries surrounding a situation in which certain behaviors are not permitted in and by the society and that to abrogate said strictures will result in the determined retribution provided by the laws so breached.

So now we understand the general basis of the concept of “The Law!” The Law is statutes delineating and defining behaviors, both acceptable and forbidden that are created by and through various established processes in order to become “law.” Depending upon the governmental structure under which this takes place, said “laws” are intended to maintain and defend the culture of the nation and the people under which these “laws” are promulgated or proclaimed. Meanwhile, individual persons study to become proficient in the creation, the use and the enforcement of said laws in order that the people will benefit therefrom. Of course, it goes without saying that the better the culture and its people, the better the laws that arise! Barbaric cultures usually have barbaric laws while enlightened cultures produce, per se, enlightened laws.

But there is a further matter that influences the law to a far greater degree than the mere “interpretation” – or even ”misinterpretation” – of any statute, and this occurs at the highest level of the legal vocation. It doesn’t usually concern the police who enforce but do not interpret the law – though they may be “permitted” – or even “instructed” – by their overlords to misuse their power to achieve some desired end! And it is in this matter of “desired ends” or “agendas” that situations diametric to the “Rule of Law” may be found. For it must be realized and accepted that laws and rules themselves cannot survive unless those mandated to make use of those laws in the society do so honestly and with justice for, though the Rule of Law can survive error, it cannot survive deliberate duplicity. Yet, often in the past, judges and others mandated to pursue and enforce the law have yielded to a desired agenda and abandoned their sworn duty to uphold the laws of the land as written and interpreted over time – a matter referred to as “legal precedent.” 

Of course, these efforts to achieve a goal by abandoning one’s sworn duty to legal fidelity have been known to occur in the past. Below is an article that appeared in the Daily National Republican of August 17, 1876, in which the editor of that newspaper points to a letter written to the New York Herald, a paper on the other side of that year’s presidential election in which the writer speaks eloquently of the failure of New York judges to do their duty under the law because of “politics:” 

Daily National Republican – August 17, 1876

The Ishmaelite of the New York Sun does not relish the following paragraph in a recent letter of Col. John S. Mosby to the New York Herald:

“It was only about twelve months ago that Tweed was released from prison on habeas corpus by a decision of the New election of that York Court of Appeals, composed of seven Democratic judges. Mr. Charles O’Conor, the Nestor of the New York bar, in a letter published at the time, charged that the decision was procured through the corrupt influence of Tweed’s money. Here was a splendid case for investigation, far excelling in enormity the sale of a suttlership; yet these judges remain unimpeached, and are still wearing the ermine of justice. I allude to this fact to show the tone of political morality of the party of which Gov. Tilden has been the acknowledged head ever since the retirement of Tweed.”

The letter writer’s beautiful allusion to the fact that the judges involved are still sitting on the bench and therefore capable of rendering further illegal and immoral rulings – “… yet these judges remain unimpeached, and are still wearing the ermine of justice.” – indicates how quickly the legitimacy of any government or society can be destroyed not by men with guns, but by men in robes, as referenced to in the phrase, “the ermine of justice.” 

All during the period from the faux “election” of 2020 to date, we have seen very suspicious matters declared as being “sent to the courts” for consideration and in reading that, most Americans hoped for these matters to be corrected and any wrong-doers involved punished by law. But time and time again, nothing has happened! And when some judgment does come back declaring what was done to be questionable or even actually illegal, the matter is soon swallowed up in a mass of intentional confusion and distraction; that is, by being sent to another court or jurisdiction or challenged yet again, eventually to simply fade away, out of sight, out of mind and out of all hope of rectification. Meanwhile, little by little, elites like George Soros and leftist groups purchase members of the American justice system and fill our courts with people who care nothing for the law or the People or the future of the nation because they are loyal to an agenda that those same laws reject and refute! 

So, what has happened to the Rules – including the Rule of Law? Alas, the present generations have decided that they prefer fiction to fact, fantasy to reality and global tyranny to national liberty. As Milton once said of the English as they embraced Charles II at the Restoration, “… they have chosen bondage with ease over strenuous liberty.” However, what today’s Americans don’t seem to realize or understand is that they will not get “bondage with ease;” they will get the slavery George Orwell and Ayn Rand predicted. They will serve without hope, without recompense and without release – all because they allowed the Rules to be broken by their “leaders” without the same resistance that arose against another tyranny in the year 1776.

Almost 250 years ago, Continental Army Commander George Washington crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night with little hope that his efforts would allow his wretched “army” to continue the struggle for American independence should he fail, while also knowing that, if captured, he would personally undergo the hideous fate of being hanged, drawn and quartered on the gallows at Tyburn in London! On that night, Washington chose the password, “Liberty or Death” – and, indeed, those were in fact the only choices that he, his army and his country had left. I believe we have arrived at a similar “crossing” and if we do not become aware of what short a time we have left to stand and fight, there will soon be only one outcome for America and Americans – death.

*Editor’s note to my Orthodox Christian readers: Protopapas is a longtime devout Orthodox Christian (and a matushka!) who believes in “old earth” creationism while I am also Orthodox but believe in “young earth” creationism more in line with the teachings of Fr. Seraphim Rose. But as stated here, “Orthodoxy makes no definitive statement about exactly how God created the universe or in what amount of time. The important point is that He did create it ex nihilo, out of nothing.” Therefore, the age of our planet “is not part of the dogmatic deposit of faith, the revelation of God to man” in the Orthodox Church. Just wanted to save y’all some teeth-gnashing in the comments. – DM

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