Of the Way

I don’t know if this has already been derived by another social commentator and it may be the incorrect ratio, but I propose the following:

“As the size of total government increases, the likelihood that any given action will be simultaneously mandated and prohibited increases exponentially.”

This includes not only laws passed by a legislative body but also all of the regulations that government departments make up on their own, and the capricious coercions that petty bureaucrats and police officers enforce which aren’t written down anywhere.

With the sheer word count of laws and within the United States federal laws and departmental regulations, I highly doubt that any single person has read all of the laws currently on the books, and that’s just one level of government.  As this trend increases, it benefits the government, as they are able to arbitrarily harass anybody who they don’t like and bring them up on charges under some obscure statute.  Local petty tyrants (police and “customer” facing employees of government agencies) are able to demand bribes as they see fit because you’re always out of compliance with some law or regulation.

Of course the only solution to this madness is repentance.  Revolts and revolutions often cast out one demon and create a vacuum that replaces the one demon with seven.  Those who will not kiss the Son will look to the state as savior.  No matter how many volumes of laws you write, no matter how much you multiply them, they will be just as impotent to save as Baal was on Mt. Carmel.

In contrast, the Mosaic law code is something that you could read in one sitting.  It provides general precepts and specific case laws with enough detail that the wise can determine what the just course of action is for any given situation.  If only the Christians in this nation could say with the psalmist:

Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word.

I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil.

I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love.

Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.

Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.

LORD, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments.

My soul hath kept thy testimonies; and I love them exceedingly.

I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies: for all my ways are before thee. (Psalm 119:161-168)

If we trusted God and delighted in His law as we ought to, then Duchemin’s Law of Bureaucracy would be moot.