Why do we love to break the law?

"We are in bondage to the law so that we might be free."
-Cicero

“Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth — are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.”
-Robert A Heinlein

Americans have an uneasy relationship with the laws they have enacted to govern themselves. On the one hand, Americans love lawbreakers. From the Boston Tea Party to Jesse James, typical American icons are hallowed for their cavalier disregard for the law. On the other hand, our entire system of government is founded on the rule of law, instead of the rule of men--the notion expounded in the Declaration of Independence that just governments are creatures of their citizens, existing only with the consent of the governed. And of course, the rule of law today is not just the ivory tower plaything of constitutional historians. Any American hustled by the police in Mexico will quickly learn gratitude for the legal integrity we yet enjoy in the USA.

I recently brought into focus the conflict between depending on the law and loathing the law by informing family and friends that I have begun obeying the posted speed limit at all times, and suggesting that they consider doing the same. I was quickly branded everything from "pussy" to "lunatic" to "fascist"--clearly breaking the speed limit is an important part of American culture. But why should citizens of a government that rests on their consent feel such powerful opposition to the very laws they themselves, albeit indirectly, have enacted?

One explanation may lie in one of the best features of representative democracy: political leadership. When cool-headed professional representatives undertake to create a policy like the speed limit, they might engage in a rational cost-benefit analysis, balancing the need for speed with the carnage that inevitably results, as well as our flourishing dependence on foreign oil. They might even employ (gasp) NUMBERS, which favor lower speed limits more than you might think (more on that later.) On the other hand, the speeders of the world--a group that includes every human in the world except for me, apparently--engage in a very different analysis, that goes something like this:

"Mashing down the gas pedal creates g-forces. G-forces feel good, especially in conjunction with music. I like things that feel good, therefore I mash down the gas pedal. I don't like the suggestion that I should refrain from an activity that feels good, so I will dismiss Will as a pussy, which will allow me to feel good again. Oh shit I just plowed over a child on a bike! Don't distract me while I am driving, it's dangerous."

In other words, the disconnect between our elected representatives and the polity with regard to the speed limit can be explained by the fact that the former are thinking, whereas the latter are feeling. To that extent, the speed limit is a shining endorsement of representative democracy.

The quote by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein, above, captures the typical American resistance to "those who want people controlled." Heinlein's sentiment resonates with the independent American spirit that threw off the shackles of a despotic government and fired the shot heard round the world. It also resonates with the heart of the American speeder, since when the law attempts to "control" them it must feel unjust.

The only problem with that line of thinking is that the law itself, by definition, consists in controlling people. Our laws Control a military that might forcibly quarter soldiers in your home, control people who would murder one another, and yes, they occasionally control people who would speed. When we expect protection of the law from others and then feel free to break any laws that don't feel good to us in the moment, we engage in a pernicious hypocrisy that restrains America from realizing it's true potential for justice and freedom, by eroding the sanctity of the law. If you love freedom, you must also love the law.

And that is why I will do my best to obey all applicable laws in the year 2009. I know the occasional slip-up is inevitable, and I will cause no small amount of frustration to those around me, and especially those driving behind me. But I have to know what it feels like and how it affects me to obey the law as much as possible, if only to gain a baseline for breaking the law in the future. Due respect to Sammy Hagar, but I can and will drive 55.