Laws

In a civilization, it is necessary to set up a guideline to behavior. This will keep the peace, and ensure that everything has a general framework. Laws and rules are put in place for this reason an dare expected to be followed or consequences will result. Although it may seem at times that laws and rules are nothing but obstacles to your freedom, most laws and rules have legitimate reasons for their existence. There are three reasons for a laws or rules to exist. A law exists because a majority of the people in this country agrees with it. Why can’t you walk down the street naked on a hot summer day? Because a majority of people in this country don’t want to look at you. It’s as simple as that. A law exists because it promotes the health or safety of everyone in society. Seat belt laws are enforced in all fifty states because seat belts save a lot of lives. A majority of people will normally support life-saving rules even if they infringe on personal freedoms to some extent. All building codes and health ordinances exist to protect the public in this same way. A law exists because it helps society to function more smoothly. Traffic lights are a perfect example of this sort of law. Because people obey traffic lights society works efficiently. If everyone did whatever they felt like doing at every intersection, we would have anarchy.

You can see an example of the second type of law when looking at building codes. Building codes are a classic example of rules that are put in place and enforced to protect the public health and safety. They also demonstrate how changes take place over time as society learns new things and why upon your arrival on the scene things seem like a complicated mess.
Laws and rules are constantly changing. One of the most interesting changes I have noted in my lifetime has been the change in smoking rules and regulations. When I was a kid people could and did smoke anytime, anywhere, in any public place. They smoked in airplanes, restaurants, offices, movie theaters, meeting rooms and so on. There were absolutely no restrictions on smoking because a majority of adults in the United States smoked. Look at how things have changed. It is now illegal to smoke in virtually any public area. Smoking laws have forced people to stand outside of office buildings to smoke. It was an amazing transformation to watch. In terms of social change timelines it happened very quickly. The thing that caused this change was the fact that smokers lost their majority in the population. As people have realized how unhealthy smoking is, people have stopped smoking in record numbers. Once non-smokers held a decided majority, all the laws changed. Let’s say you find a law or rule that you think is unreasonable. To change it, all you have to do is convince a majority of voters to agree with you and work toward changing a law through your congressman or other elected officials. It is really as simple as that.