Not the masses!
Laws to Live-by
Laws protect our general safety and ensure our rights as citizens against abuses by other people, organizations, and the government itself. We have laws to help provide for our general safety. These exist at the local, state, and national levels, including laws about food safety.
We need laws to protect both individual safety and community safety from harm by other individuals, organizations, and governments. Laws provide a framework within which individuals, governments, and organizations are expected to act.
The United States Congress is the lawmaking body of the Federal Government. Congress has two houses: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Each state also passes its own laws, which you must follow when you are in that state.
The Origin of Law
By the 22nd century BC, Ur-Nammu, an ancient Sumerian ruler, formulated the first extant law code, consisting of casuistic statements (“if… then…”). Around 1760 BC, King Hammurabi further developed Babylonian law, by codifying and inscribing it in stone.
In America, our law system came from Great Britain. The settlers of the original thirteen colonies came from Europe, and they brought with them their own set of rules and principles to be used in their new society.
Even after they are passed, laws constantly evolve to keep up with the changes in our society. An amendment can always be filed to an existing law, changing part or all of something already in place.
We need laws to keep order, and to make sure we stay on track. Without our laws, society would quickly descend into chaos and people would be able to do whatever they wanted. This could lead to violence, theft, and other crimes. The laws of man are guarantors of order, a necessary control against the inherent greediness of our species. Laws also protect our rights as citizens. They give us the right to a fair trial, the right to vote, and the freedom to express ourselves.
There are 3 important factors for laws’ existence. Laws keep people safe, keep order in society, and protect the rights of individuals.
The Rule of Law is the foundation of a civilized society. It establishes a transparent process accessible and equal to all. It ensures adherence to principles that both liberate and protect. The International Bar Association (IBA) calls upon all countries to respect these fundamental principles.
Politicians, courts, and lobbyists/special interest groups such as the NRA, the Koch brothers, tech companies, gas & oil moguls, Walmart, Amazon, banks, corporations and other rich, influential people make laws.
It is so important to vote. Our representatives should pass laws that protect its citizens; sometimes, they don’t. It takes only one representative to save us from a harmful code like “Stand your Ground.” It was written by a gun lobbyist and first passed in Florida statehouse. Now 38 states have some version of this law.
NRA’s mission: make it possible for gun manufacturers to sell as many guns as possible (even to those that should not have arms like blind people in bars). Make sure laws are passed to keep gun owners out of jail when they violate the law when shooting someone.
When ridiculous laws are passed, ask your representative how did he/she vote?
The Law of Ethics
Legal ethics is a term used to describe a code of conduct governing proper professional behavior, which establishes the nature of obligations owed to individuals and to society.
The Fundamental Principles of Ethics Decision-making. Beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, fidelity, and justice constitute the 5 principles of ethics. The first 2 can be traced back to the time of Hippocrates “to help and do no harm,” while the latter 3 evolved later.
Beneficence— Persons are treated in an ethical manner not only by respecting their decisions and protecting them from harm but also by making efforts to secure their well-being. Such treatment falls under the principle of beneficence.
Nonmaleficence. The principle of nonmaleficence holds that there is an obligation not to inflict harm on others.
Autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. It is an autonomous person whose ideals, beliefs, and value commitments are respected. Respect for autonomy is therefore respect for the capacity and right of persons to determine their own fortunes.
Fidelity addresses a person’s responsibility to be loyal and truthful in their relationships with others. It also includes promise-keeping, fulfilling commitments, and trustworthiness.
The field of ethics, or moral philosophy, investigates theories that can systematically describe what makes acts right or wrong. Moral philosophy is usually divided into three categories: metaethics, applied ethics, and normative ethics.
Metaethics is the study of moral thought and moral language. Rather than addressing questions about what practices are right and wrong, and what our obligations to other people or future generations are – questions of so-called ‘normative’ ethics – metaethics asks what morality actually is.
In other words, personal opinions are only moral feelings and attitudes that are justified by our understanding of moral discourse as compared with other forms of speech and writing.
Applied ethics is a branch of ethics devoted to the treatment of moral problems, practices, and policies in personal life, professions, technology, and government. It is ethics with respect to real-world actions and their moral considerations in the areas of private and public life, the professions, health, technology, law, and leadership.
Normative ethics is that branch of moral philosophy, or ethics, concerned with criteria of what is morally right and wrong. It includes the formulation of moral rules that have direct implications for what human actions, institutions, and ways of life should be like.
At its simplest, ethics is a system of moral principles. They affect how people make decisions and lead their lives. Ethics is concerned with what is good for individuals and society and is also described as moral philosophy.
Ethics is what guides us to tell the truth, keep our promises, or help someone in need. There is a framework of ethics underlying our lives on a daily basis, helping us make decisions that create positive impacts and steering us away from unjust outcomes.
Can a person be moral but not ethical?
