RULE OF LAW; LIFE OF VIRTUE

St. Martin of Tours

 I have been mulling this over in my mind for a long time.  I know what I want to say.  I was blocked for a while, until I thought of this fellow who lived some 1,700 years ago.  He is one of the famous people who gave up a life of luxury and comfort for a life of shared love and compassion for his fellow humans.
We tend to go through life wondering if there are any of these people left.  We go through life hearing that the "redistribution of wealth" is not right.  We live with the legality of abortion;  we live with the legality of alcohol and the unlawful use of marijuana; we live with the "blind eye" towards employers who hire the people for whom it is illegal to be here and therefore illegal to be hired.  We hear of usurious practices that enslave the borrowers, enrich the lenders but nevertheless are legal.  So many times we also hear "I am going to abide by the law.  My religion is one thing, the law of the land is another."  That's the rub.
I am not talking religion here.  I am talking morality.  There is morality outside of religion.  There is a morality that belongs to all of us as human beings.  We do not need a law to tell us that it is wrong to kill another person.  We do not need a law to tell us that it is wrong to steal the widow's last dollar.  We do not need laws to tell us a lot of things.  We have conscience and virtue to guide us through life.  We do need law to help us resist the temptation to be nasty now and then.  We need law to support and guide our conscience and our virtue.  Law is the external force that is meant to make us all abide by the common expectations of the community in which we live.  
In a democracy we give the people whom we elect the delegated authority to underpin morality and virtue with "obeyable" and enforceable laws.  The people we elect are expected to know how to do this.  They are expected to legislate in such a way that morality and virtue will be sustained, not demolished.  They are expected to legislate in such a way that the common good will be assured.  They are not expected to legislate in such a way that their personal comfort will be assured before that of the community.  They are not expected to compromise the morality of the community by their legislation.  They are not expected to be so venal in their life style that their personal morality will be so weak that their moral authority will be demolished.  When that happens, they abdicate the trust of the electorate and therefore the right to continue governing.  So, yes, morality and law do go together.  No matter what anyone says, that is the truth.  
When morality and law part ways, humans degenerate into a lower species.  When morality and law part ways, democracies fail.  Not only democracies, I might add, Empires, Kingdoms, Dictatorships, you name it.  
So, yes, that is my thought for the day.  
I will therefore leave you to your devices, since I have been burdened with some remunerative work that has to be done in the next three hours.


Peace and joy to you all.