- Worrying About Legal Vs. Worrying About Right

I've mentioned before an example of how making a 'bad' thing 'illegal', can make things worse not better, when all the various incentives are taken into account. Take this example:

A teenage boy is asked by his mother to be home before sundown. Let us stipulate that over the long term, being home before sundown will probably have a positive long term effect on the boy's life. He'll learn responsible habits, be well rested the next day, and he will for one night at least, avoid all that trouble that teen boys seem to find the minute darkness falls. (we've all been there)

If he complies with his mother's request, he'll be ridiculed by his friends. This particular brand of ridicule is a constant of human civilization and has been present in every culture and time period that has had both teen boys and mothers. So it's a mild disincentive for him.

However, if he does listen to his mother, then the older men in his community will recognize that he is a boy more worthy of respect than his peers. They'll see his tendency to obey his mother as a sign of good judgment and positive character. If they need someone to trust to complete a task he'll be more likely to be chosen, and therefore more likely to gain the respect of the rest of the community. And this 'positive face' that he gets from willingly obeying his mother, for many boys, will counter act the negative incentive of being ridiculed by his friends.

But as soon as the all knowing state decides to pass a law that makes it illegal for teen boys to be out past dark, he is no longer showing good judgment. Now, all he's doing is obeying the law, and isn't worthy of any special respect. But if he complies with the law, then his friends will still ridicule him. So instead of having a positive incentive, a negative incentive, and the chance to choose between them, we have only a negative incentive, and a command issued by the state that must be obeyed.

All that's been eliminated by making it illegal, is to take away the societal upside.

My point is, when we go from a being a people worried about right and wrong, to a people worried about what's legal and not, it's evidence that we are no longer capable of making moral choices. And that in turn, is evidence that we are unworthy of self rule.

Here is Mark Steyn making the point far better than I could. Only instead of a hypothetical story about a boy obeying his mother, he's using the Penn State child rape disaster to illustrate it.